A New Beginning
by jinx777
Summary: Betrayed by the people around him in a way not even he thought was possible, Naruto left. After realising he is being chased Naruto tries to escape using a Jutsu only for a single wrong hand seal to send both him and those chasing him to another dimension. Now three years later he is living the life he always wanted but was never alowed, but how long can it last. Rated M for safty.
1. New World

**Another idea rattling around inside my head that I needed to get out. For those wondering about my fic The Frozen Flame I had a problem with my computer and am having to start the chapter from scratch, so it may take a while, sorry.**

**There might be a few holes in the story line at first but bear with me; all will be explained in time.**

**There are a few things I will explain now because I'm not sure if I can fit them in or might forget.**

**First thing is that the Sasuke retrieval was a success, meaning he never went to Orochimaru.**

**When this starts Naruto and the other rookie 9 are 13 and team 9 are 14.**

**The others know about the fox, just because it makes things a little easier for me.**

**I will be making him strong, but not unbeatable and it will all be explained in flashbacks where needed. I will say now that I have decided to make him focus mainly on seals for this story, but there will be other things as well. Also, he will have a monster healing ability.**

**thus will be smart Naruto and will probilly be a little OC ( i think thats the right expression)**

**Enjoy :)**

Summery- Betrayed by the people around him in way not even he thought was possible, Naruto leave. After realizing he is being chased Naruto tries to escape using a Jutsu only for a single wrong hand seal to send both him and those chasing him to another dimension.

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**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

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**Beta'd by Sihv**

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Chapter 1- New World

The first thing Naruto noticed, as he regained consciousness, was the noise. All around him, he could hear loud roaring sounds, over the top of what must have been thousands of people, mixed in with several odd noises he couldn't place. There was a terrible smell that was making his nose burn. Next was the realization that he was lying on the ground in what, he hoped, was a puddle. His clothes were drenched and he shivered as the cold was started to get to him. It was at this point that the pain hit, like someone had thrust a kunai into his head. Rubbing his head where it hurt, Naruto slowly sat up and opened his left eye to look at the blood on his hand from an already healed cut.

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear the fog that seemed to surround his mind, Naruto took a moment to look around.

He seemed to be in an alley of some kind, though it was several times bigger than any alleyway he had seen in Konoha. The buildings on either side of him seemed to stretch high into the night's sky, so much so that he could barely see the tops. He was surrounded by large metal boxes, the source of the foul smell, and, at the end of the alley, he could see countless people walking past without even a single glace in his direction. Not that they would be able to see him, as he was at the far end of the alley, hidden in the shadows.

Shuffling back a few feet so he could lean against the wall, Naruto let out a sigh and covered his eyes with his hand. He sat there for a few minutes, not moving an inch as he watched the people pass by outside the alley through his fingers.

He could hear the voice in his head arguing with each other, but didn't bother trying to listen to them. He was confused enough as it was without trying to understand what they were all saying all at once.

Then, out of nowhere, a chuckle escaped his lips. It wasn't an amused sound, nor was it a cruel one. More than anything, it sounded tired, like the world had collapsed around him and this was the first chance he had to stop and think about it.

Which is actually what happened.

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3 hours earlier

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Naruto was laying on his bed with a small frown on his face.

The sky outside his window was dark and no one was on the street. The room around him looked like it had been hit by a tornado; the dresser was tipped over on its side and all his clothes and random bits of paper were scattered on the floor, torn to pieces in a fit of rage.

It had been a year and a half since he had dragged Sasuke back to the village. Sasuke had been slung over his shoulder, with minor wounds and a bump on his head. Whereas he was slowly bleeding out from the fist size hole in his chest inches to the right of his hart.

They had both been rushed to the hospital and Tsunade had treated him personally.

It was later found out, after Jiraiya examined the now completed Cursed Seal, that there had been a compulsion seal hiding in the seal matrix that was responsible for Sasuke trying to abandon the village. They couldn't remove the Cursed Seal completely but the compulsion seal had been removed easily enough. Sasuke had gone back to being his usual broody self, though he did break character for a short time, just long enough to thank Naruto for stopping him and apologize for almost killing him.

Naruto had responded with his usual grin, which got him a smirk and Sasuke throwing out a 'dobe' comment before walking off.

A week after the retrieval mission, Sasuke and Sakura had started dating. It had broken the young blonde's heart when he heard, but like with everything else in his life he put on his mask and smiled at them, congratulating them and joking about Sasuke getting an early start on rebuilding his clan.

The only one that seemed to notice it was all faked was Ero-sannin. The white haired man had been in the room with them when the new couple told him, and had comforted Naruto after they left. He cried for the rest of the day, yet didn't make a sound.

The next day, Jiraiya had taken Naruto out of the hospital. No one saw him for the next six months. When his friends asked Tsunade what had happened to him, all she would say was that he was on a training trip with Jiraiya and that he would be back when he had finished his training.

When he came back, Naruto seemed exactly the same to all his friends, still hyper and loud. At first, they had questioned the blonde about what he had been doing for the past half a year. After he repeatedly refused to tell them anything, they gave up and things went back to normal.

At least until know.

On the bed next to Naruto was a small scroll, no bigger than the palm of his hand. He had found a small seal on the back of his neck a few hours ago. His training in Fuinjutsu with Jiraiya, allowed him to identify it as a storage seal. The small scroll was actually another storage seal with another two large ones inside it that contained a libraries worth of scrolls.

There were scrolls on Ninjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, Genjutsu and a few scrolls with weapons of every kind imaginable and even a few unimaginable, sealed inside them. But the thing that shocked him the most was the letter from his father, Minato Namikaze.

_My dearest son,_

_I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for what I am about to do. If I had any other choice, I would take it, but I cannot ask another parent to give up their child. I hope that you can forgive me for what has been done._

_If you are reading this, then you have just become a genin (I am so proud of you), and Sarutobi has told you about the seal on the back of your neck. In these scrolls is all the knowledge that belongs to the Namikaze clan, several generations' worth of information that we gathered over the years. The fact that I am dead means that you are the last of our clan, the others being wiped out during the Third Great War._

_I am sorry that you had to wait this long to find out that I am your father, but it was too dangerous for you to know. I made a lot of enemies in my life. If they found out you are my son before you could defend yourself, I don't want to think about the consequences, so until you are jonin I ask that you keep it a secret while learning from these scrolls._

_I hope you have had a good life. I'm sure that the village has been spoiling you rotten. After all, you are the villages savior. If not for you, the Kyuubi would still be free. Hopefully, you haven't taken after Jiraiya. Just because he's your godfather doesn't mean you can become a pervert, or a drunk like your godmother, Tsunade._

_I'm sorry that I don't have more to say. I am running out of time and need to prepare for the Kyuubi. Remember that both I and your mother love you so much._

_Love,_

_Minato Namikaze_

He had read the letter over and over again, burning the words into his memory. His hero, the man he once dreamed was his father, it was all his fault.

The abuse... the beatings... the GLARES... the **HATE**, it was all his fault!

Yet despite that, he didn't hate the Yondaime for sealing the fox in him.

He was right. What kind of man would he have been, if he asked someone to do what he couldn't? If anything, Naruto respected him even more for that, being brave enough to give up everything for the village. It wasn't the fact that he had sealed Kyuubi in him that made him hate the man, it was his _naivety_.

He had actually thought that Naruto would be seen as a hero, after the fox had destroyed half the village and killed so many people.

The thought made his blood boil.

Then, there was the fact the letter said he was supposed to get the scrolls right after he had become a genin, an event that happened two years ago. The old man was supposed to tell him, but hadn't for reasons unknown.

He didn't even want to think about his supposed godparents, Tsunade and Jiraiya.

He couldn't help the feeling of betrayal.

He hated this village. He hated the people in it. People said that Konoha was the best place to live in the Elemental Nations, that it was filled with the friendliest people and the reason they were so strong was because of how they believed in teamwork and kindness, but that wasn't true.

The people weren't friendly. They were spiteful creatures that hid behind a mask of kindness while really that were no different than anyone else.

It made him sick.

'_Then leave._'

The familiar sound of the voice in the back of his mind was enough to break him out of his thoughts.

Sitting up, his hair falling down over his eyes and covering them in shadow, Naruto took the small scroll and put it back into the seal on the back of his neck. Standing, he made his way to the door and left the apartment without looking back.

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As the sight of the front gate came into view, Naruto saw the chunin guard sending him a small glare. The street was completely silent as the young blonde made his way towards the gate, eyes still shadowed by his hair and his mouth set into a small frown.

The man stepped forward, not even trying to hide his distain at the sight of him.

"What the hell do you want, brat?"

Naruto just walked passed him, as if he wasn't there, and continued towards the gate.

Getting angry at being ignored by the demon brat, the chunin made to grab the smaller boys shoulder and turn him around.

"Hey I'm talking to yo-"

He never finished his sentence. Just as he turned to face the older man, Naruto pulled a kunai out of his sleeve and stabbed it into the guard's stomach. Eyes going wide, the chunin let out a straggled gasp as he fell to the ground, Naruto looming over him.

Bending down so that he could get a good look at the man's face, the blonde genin spoke in a voice almost completely devoid of emotion, except for the simmering rage that could be heard bubbling under the surface.

"I remember you... you were always one of the ninja that chased us during the villages 'fox hunts'."

The guard's eyes widened even further at Naruto's words, fear becoming the most dominant emotion on his face.

With a snort of disgust, Naruto turned his back on the man as he slowly bled and walked off into the trees that surrounded Konoha.

XXX

It wasn't until after hours of running that Naruto heard the people coming up behind him. He had been running non-stop ever since he left the village. For a moment, he considered trying to outrun them, but realized that such a tactic wouldn't work. If they had caught up to him, then they would be able to catch him before long. Instead, he stopped on a branch and turned to face his pursuers.

He didn't have to wait for long. Moments after he stopped, Naruto was met with the sight of Sasuke, Sakura, Lee, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru and Kakashi stopping on the branches and looking at him with mixed expressions of shock and confusion.

Stepping forward to address his wayward student, Kakashi raised his hands in the air to show that he wasn't armed. It was almost enough to make him laugh. Kakashi actually thought he was that stupid?

"Naruto, I don't know what happened, but you need to come back with us now so we can fix it. The guard at the gate is going to live. This doesn't have to go any further then it already has."

Naruto just stared at them with a blank face, looking at each of them in turn before turning back to Kakashi. Something didn't seem right about his face. It was still Naruto, but something seemed to have changed, in a way none of them could describe.

"Too bad. We should have just slit his throat and been done with it."

The casual way in which Naruto said that was almost as shocking as the words themselves, and just like his face something about it just didn't seem like Naruto.

Eyes widening slightly before settling on a look of apathy, Kakashi let his hands drop to his side.

"You're not Naruto. What's going on? Are you the fox? Are you controlling him?"

Shaking his head slightly, the young blonde leveled haunted eyes on his sensei.

"The fox? Is that the best you can come up with? You really don't know anything about us, do you?"

Letting out a tired sigh, Naruto looked at each of them with tired eyes that didn't look right on the normally energetic blonde's face.

"We've had enough."

At the confused look on his sensei's face, Naruto let out a small, hollow chuckle.

"Thirteen years... for thirteen years, we've been the village's scapegoat for what the fox did. The beatings... the insults... and to know who our father was... and that it's his fault... we just can't take it anymore. We're not going back! We are never going back to that hell hole!"

As he finished his speech, Naruto ripped off his headband and threw it towards the group and started to speed through hand signs as fast as he could. Before any of them could stop him, he let out a yell.

"**Reverse Summoning Jutsu**!"

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Present time

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After that, everything went black and he woke up here.

Obviously, something had gone wrong with the Jutsu. It was supposed to take him to the toad mountain, not wherever this was. At least he had gotten away from them. He didn't want to fight his old friends, not yet anyway.

Getting to his feet, Naruto looked at his orange clothes, then at the people walking on the path at the end of the alley. After a moment, he nodded to himself. He took off his wet jacket and threw it in one of the large mental boxes, leaving him in a tight fitting black shirt, that showed just how shinny he was, and his orange pants.

Letting out another sigh, Naruto made his way out of the alley toward the crowed street.

XXX

Shortly after they had woken up, Kakashi and his team set up camp in a large empty warehouse near a river to try and figure out what had happened. He had no idea where they were, how they got here, or how to get back. Off in the distance, they could see a tower that seemed to have been made in an odd shape built on a small island in the middle of the bay.

They were sat in a circle on the ground, facing each other, as Kakashi summed up what had happened so far.

"I have nothing."

This caused the five genin sat around the white haired man to face fault. After picking themselves back up, all eyes turned to Shikamaru, the shadow user being the best at analyzing situations on their current team.

"Troublesome. Whatever Naruto was trying to do obviously didn't work the way he had hope, because I doubt he would have brought us along willingly... At least, I don't think he would by the way he was acting. Which is another reason to be concerned, because he wasn't acting anything like himself. From that, we can only assume that the Jutsu wasn't supposed to bring us to... wherever this place is. He probably made a mistake in his hand seals, which means he is as lost as us as to where we are."

After a moment of silence, they all heard a snort and turned to Ino.

"Sure sounds like him. He can't even run away right!"

"Shut up, Ino! Whatever is going on, he is still our friend!"

Surprisingly, this came from Sasuke, who was leveling a hard glare at the blonde girl.

Despite how he acted around people, Naruto included, Sasuke had a great respect for his blonde teammate. He had saved him from a fate worse than death and, even though he would never admit it, he would always feel indebted to the orange wearing knucklehead for that. He also knew what was really going through Naruto's mind when they had told him about his and Sakura's relationship. He would admit that the blondes mask was almost perfect, but he had seen the look in his eyes just before he put it on.

Yet he had still put it on for their sake.

"But he stabbed a chunin, and ran away from the village. He's nothing more than a traitor now."

Shooting to his feet in a moment of anger, Sasuke practically yelled at the purple wearing Kunoichi.

"Is that what you think? Then what does that make me? I ran away from the village too, remember? But he didn't give up on me, and I'm not giving up on him!"

"Calm down Sasuke, nobody is giving up on Naruto. Ino, think carefully before you talk from now on."

After the raven haired boy sat back down and held his girlfriends hand to try and calm down, Kakashi turned his attention back to Shikamaru.

"What do you suggest we do now?"

Raising an eyebrow at the older man, the lazy Nara let out a yawn.

"Why are you asking me? You're the team leader."

"And you're the team strategist."

"...Troublesome. Well, I guess the first thing we need to do is gather information. Wherever we are, it doesn't match anything I've seen on the maps on the Elemental Nations. My dad had me memorize all of our maps. Also, from what I heard on our way here, I don't think we speak the same language. I'd say we get Ino to use her '**Mind Transfer Jutsu**' on a few random people, to try and learn what we can. Until then, we need to keep a low profile, nothing above what a civilian could do. Also, we can't look for Naruto yet."

Seeing that they were about to argue with him, Shikamaru quickly continued.

"Until we know more about _where_we are, we can't risk doing anything that could draw the attention of the people here. We don't know anything about them and, for all we know, they could have ninja stronger then even Kakashi. When we know more about this place, we can start looking for Naruto."

After thinking about what he had said, they all fell silent, unable to argue with his logic. Letting out a sigh, Kakashi nodded his head.

"Your right. We'll put off the search until we know more about where we are. Tomorrow, Ino, Shikamaru and Hinata will go and gather whatever information they can. Don't be seen and, when you're done, you will directly come back here. Until then, sleep. I'll take first watch and after that I'll wake up Sasuke. It's been a long night and I get the feeling it's not going to get any better anytime soon."

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3 years later

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It had been three years since Naruto had first landed in Jump City and he could honestly say he had never been happier.

After making his way out of the alley, he had wandered around for several hours. Eventually, he had come to a large, old look building that had turned out to be a library. The women at the front desk hadn't even spared him a glance as he walked in and, after looking for several hours, he had found a few books that he could read.

After that, with the help of shadow clones and sneaking in at night, the young blonde had been able to learn a lot about where he was. The first thing being that he was definitely not in the Elemental Nations and that they didn't have ninja. What they did have, however, was enough to make him cautious.

He didn't want to have to deal with the Justice League.

Actually, he didn't want to have to deal with anyone. He was in a new world and, although they had wars, Naruto felt no need to fight. He still trained, knowing that there would come a time he would need to fight, but until that time came he was happy to just live a normal life.

After finding someone that could set him up with fake papers so he could stay under the radar, Naruto began saving up money by using his clones, **Henge'd** into random people, to do jobs all around the city, mostly construction work. After two years, he had enough money to buy a small book shop and still have a good sum left over.

He was currently walking between the shelves, his arms full of books and a small smile on his face as he placed them in the right spot, nodding his head to several customers as he passed them.

One of the first things Naruto had done after getting money, was to buy new clothes to help him fit in. He could honestly say that he didn't miss his old 'kill me' orange and the fact people would actually sell him what he wanted just made him more angry at his treatment at the hands of Konoha and the fact that he had let them get away with it.

He now wore a black jacket over the top of a red t-shirt, a pair of tight fitting blue jeans and simple black sneakers, along with a pair of black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back of his hands and a light brown bucket hat on top of his head that shadowed his eyes slightly. He had let his hair grow out a little, just enough to slightly cover his eyes.

He wasn't malnourished anymore, and had grown to 6'1. After three years of proper eating and training, his body had filled out. While he wasn't bulging with muscles like the body builders he had seen around the city, he wasn't skinny, and it was easy to see his muscles through his shirt.

At the time he bought the shop, he had laughed. If his friends could see him now, 'the dobe' actually willingly being around books, he could almost see the looks on their faces.

"_What does it matter what they would think? It's not like they really cared about you. They were the same as everyone else in that god-forsaken village._"

Letting out a sigh at hearing one of the familiar voices in his head, Naruto made sure not to react too much to it.

For years now, he had heard the voices in the back of his head. Seven, to be exact. When he had asked them who they were, all they would tell him was that they were him, just different parts of him. There was Sloth, who for all intents and purposes was smart but lazy like Shikamaru, Pride, who would always tell him to fight anyone that dared disrespect him, Gluttony, who just wanted to eat all the time, Greed, Envy, Lust, and the ever-present Wrath.

It was actually because of Wrath that he had stabbed the guard at the gate and said what he had to Kakashi. He had been so angry, that the dark voice had gained influence over him. Not enough to outright kill someone, but enough to affect his willingness to hurt people.

Despite that, and how annoying it was to have several extra voices in his head, Naruto didn't think any of them were evil, despite how they seeming to represent the Seven Deadly Sins. They all just worried about him, even Wrath, and in a way were all his friends.

"_Not now, Wrath. I'm working. Besides, it doesn't matter anymore. I'm here and they're not._"

He didn't say anything after that, simply humming to himself quietly as he made his way around the shop, a happy smile on his face.

XXX

As she made her way down the street towards her favorite tea shop, Raven could be heard grumbling under her breath about stupid green loudmouths and cocky robots. She didn't know why she put up with them sometimes.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the grey skinned girl took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. It wouldn't be good if her emotions got the better of her, and she destroyed something by accident.

She ignored the people staring at her; being used to it. If anything, she had it the easiest out of all her friends. Because of her dark personality and looks, not many people would approach her, despite her popularity as a Teen Titan. She remembered when Robin had been mobbed by his fans and dragged off. It had taken them an hour to find him and whatever they did was still enough to make the boy wonder curl up into a ball and mutter about demon fan girls at the mention of it.

It was just as she was passing by a small book store that she didn't recognized that her thoughts were interrupted by a man in a business suit being thrown out of the door, followed shortly by a shout to stay out. Turning from the downed man to the door he was thrown through, Raven got a curious look on her face and walked towards the shop.

The shop was actually bigger then she had thought it would be from the outside.

It was nice; several bookshelves with all different genres were set up and set in a corner of the room at the back was a small spiral staircase leading up to a balcony overlooking the store, with some chairs and desks for people to sit while they read. Hanging from the room in several place were security cameras, strategically placed around the shop so that nowhere was left unwatched. She could see three different people sitting at one of the desks near the railing of the balcony, pouring over an old leather bound book that looked so old Raven thought it might belong in a museum. She could see that they were all wearing rubber gloves and looked to be taken notes.

Slowly making her way around the shop, stopping at random places to look at the shelves, Raven soon found herself up on the balcony. Her eyes were soon drawn to the glass cases, set up in the place of bookshelves on this level. Each case had three books inside, except for one that only had two and a blank space in between them. Walking over to inspect one of the cases, she felt her eyes widen.

In the case she had walked up to were three old books, not unlike the one she had seen the other people looking at before, bound in old worn leather. They were perfectly preserved and set on pillows of crimson velvet.

But it wasn't the decorations that had really caught her eyes. What shocked her was the fact she recognized them as spell and occult books, particularly rare ones that must have been worth a small fortune each. Raven had actually been trying to find one of these books in particular for several years now. Which begged the question, what were they doing in a small book shop in Jump City?

"Beautiful aren't they?"

Suppressing her surprise at the sudden and unexpected voice of the person who stood next to her, the grey skinned teen moved her eyes to look at the blonde boy on her right.

He didn't look any older then her, 16 at the most, but the way he was built gave him a slightly older look. He had blonde hair under a brown bucket hat. Both of his cheeks had three whisker like birthmarks and his eyes were some of the brightest blue she had ever seen. Fighting down the small blush that was starting to appear on her face at the sight of the cute blonde, Raven turned her eyes back to the books as the blonde opened his mouth once more.

"Not many people can appreciate books like these."

"They are beautiful, though I wonder how such a small shop came to possess them. That tome on the right alone is easily worth over 15,000 dollars."

"Twelve actually, I found it eight months ago in an online auction. The poor man didn't even know what he had."

Turning to look at the boy again, Raven let a little bit of surprise enter her voice.

"You own this book?"

The small smile that appeared on his face was almost enough to make her lose the battle against her blush.

"Actually, I own all of them. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I own this store."

Accepting the offered hand, Raven shook it while giving her own name.

"Raven."

When she told him her name, another smile came to Naruto's lips and he gestured towards the book.

"Well Raven-san, would you like to have a look?"

To say she was shocked at his words would be an understatement. Here was a boy she had just met, offering to let her look through a twelve thousand dollar book like someone would ask about the weather.

"Are you sure that's ok? I mean, you paid a lot of money for it."

Reaching into his pocket, Naruto put on a pair of rubber gloves, pulled a small key on a chain from around his neck and unlocked the display case with a small chuckle. Pulling out the book, he walked over to one of the desks at the balcony of the room, Raven right behind him.

"I don't mind. After all, what's the point of having a book if you never read it, especially one as special as this? Normally, I would charge you for it. But since you seem to be one of the few that actually knows what it is, I think I can make an exception just this once. The fact that you're cute doesn't hurt."

This time she did blush, but thankfully he had his back turned to her so he couldn't see it.

Taking the empty seat next to the blonde and taking the gloves he gave her, she started to flip through the book. Raven soon found herself lost in its pages. Three hours later, she didn't even realize that she had been sitting there reading for hours on end and probably would have continued to do so if not for Naruto tapping her on the shoulder telling her it was closing time.

She hadn't even notice that they were the last two in the shop.

After watching the boy lock the book back in its display case, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten about the man being thrown out just as she had been passing by.

"Before I go, I was wondering something."

"Hmm... what's that?"

"The reason I came in here in the first place was because I saw a man being literally thrown out as I was passing by. Why was that?"

Taking a moment to think, Naruto continued walking around the now deserted shop, making sure everything was where it should be.

"You must mean Mister Gold. He's a private collector and has been after a lot of my collection for a while now. He didn't want to take no for an answer, so I threw him out."

Raising an eyebrow at the casual why he talked about it, Raven couldn't help the slight amusement in her voice.

"Just like that?"

"People like him think that just because they have money means they can get whatever they want. He didn't want my books so he could read them; he wanted them so no one else could have them."

She could see the logic in that, most people that collected books would never actually open them, or let anyone else for that matter. It seemed Naruto was one of the rare ones few that didn't mind letting others read his books... at least as long as they paid.

After that, she left for the tower, telling him she would be back to see more of his books. Naruto's answer to that had been a charming smile, and a promise that if she played her cards right he would let her see whatever she wanted.

The double meaning in his words left her with a blush on her face that lasted all the way until the next day.

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**Beta'd by Sihv (9/22/12)**

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**Let me know what you think :)**

**Also I would just like to take a moment to say, BUCKET HATS RULE! So don't dis the hat XP **

**R&R :)**


	2. The Titans

**Before you read this chapter I would just like to take a moment to thank someone. He has not only reviewed all my fics at one point or another but also does what I think might be the longest I have ever seen, so I would just like to say a big thank you to 'Rickjames196' for all his support XD**

**Enjoy :)**

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**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

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**Beta'd by Sihv**

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Chapter 2- The Titians

After Raven had left, Naruto locked the door and, after one last check to make sure everything was in its right place, moved to the back of the store and through a door behind the counter. On the other side of the door was a small corridor with light blue paint on the walls and two doors on either side leading to a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living room of the house part of his store. Ignoring the rooms, Naruto walked straight to the end of the corridor and after biting his thumb smeared his blood across the wall in a small circle.

Taking a step back, he watched as a sealing matrix spread across the wall before a flash of blue light blinded him for a moment. When his eyes recovered, the wall was gone and in front of him was a staircase leading down underground. Walking forward, he paused to smear more blood on another seal on the wall to his right. After the wall flashed back into place behind him, he continued on his way.

Fifteen minutes later, he came to the bottom of the stairs only for them to end at another wall that vanished like the one at the top when he smeared some blood on it. Again sealing the wall behind him, Naruto turned to look around at the large cave like room that had been carved into a circle with eleven doors lining the walls, each leading to different places.

This was where he lived, having had his clones dig it out and shape it with Earth Jutsu shortly after buying the store. The rooms upstairs where a dummy home, a proxy to use if he ever had anyone visit, which hadn't happened so far, or in case someone broke in to the shop.

It was actually because of the space under it that Naruto had brought the particular building to use as his books store. Most of the space under the city was occupied by sewers. All except this single lot. The stairs that lead down to this room were in a thin, straight line leading down between the sewer tunnels. The room he was in right now was approximately two hundred feet below the lowest of the sewer pipes.

The door to his immediate right was his first library, which contained most of the rarest books he had acquired from this world, many of which he had found could be quite dangerous if left in the wrong hands. One of the things he found out about this world was that, even though they didn't have Jutsu or chakra, they did have was magic. The books he had gathered in this room were almost all spell books that, if history was right, were dangerous and had a rather bloody history to go with them. Even if he was trying to stay neutral in this world for as long as he could, Naruto couldn't help but interfere a little, even if all he did was keep the books locked up so others couldn't use them.

Next to that, was another library with all the scrolls he had brought with him from the Elemental Nations, retrieved from the scroll his father had left him. Third in the line-up of rooms was his seal library/study, where he made and stored all his seals. Then he had a corridor that led to ten different bedrooms, including his own, with a small bathroom for each. None of them but his room had ever been used and probably never would be, but he liked to be prepared anyway. The next two rooms after that were his kitchen and pantry/store room, respectively, and the three rooms after that were training rooms, each with a different terrain set up for practice in and each the size of a small village back in his world, where he would have thousands of clones training each day in different Jutsu and combat styles. The last two rooms were his gym and living room, both filled with the best equipment that money could buy.

After his clones had spent two years gathering money from all the jobs they had done, he had saved up quite a lot of money. A sum which had only increased after he stared dealing in rare books. Even if he kept most of them sealed in his library for safe keeping so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, the ones he did sell and rent always made a good profit.

God bless Shadow Clones.

Deciding to skip his evening workout for once, Naruto went straight to his living room, sat on the couch and turned on his 52 inch plasma flat screen TV. Letting out a sigh, he leaned back and watched the news, thinking about the grey skinned girl he had just met.

He had to admit, he wasn't expecting one of the Teen Titans to walk into his shop. The blonde may not have said anything to her about it, and even acted like he didn't know, but he knew who she was the moment she had stepped into the store. He also knew that she was one of the people he was keeping his true collection away from.

It was true Raven was a 'good guy', using her powers to fight crime and all that, but the fact was that power could corrupt the purest souls. The most innocent child in the world could be drawn into darkness if given too much power and Naruto didn't want to risk that happening.

Not to say he wouldn't flirt with her, even if it was mostly because Lust promised to give him wet dreams for the next month if he didn't, something he had found was actually within the voices power to do after the first time he had refused to flirt with a girl he had met at a club.

He hadn't lied when he said she was cute, and the blush that crossed her face when he had said it made her all the more so. Even if she didn't realize he had seen the redness on her cheeks, the blonde had to admit it made her seem even more beautiful. The tight black leotard didn't hurt either.

Coming out of his thoughts just in time to see a video clip of the Titans fighting what look like a large stone statue on the news, Naruto let out another sigh, turned the TV off and went to bed.

XXX

Raven was on her way to Naruto's book store. It had been two days since she had first stepped through the door. Her delay had been caused by having to help her friends deal with several criminals, with this being the only free time she'd had since her first visit. The grey skinned girl had been a bit disappointed when she read the sign on the door saying it wouldn't open for another hour, but decided to go and get a cup of tea while he waited.

When she arrived at her usual place, Raven was surprised to see the blonde that had been on her mind for the past two days drinking tea in the corner of the room farthest from the door with a book in his hand.

Deciding to go and sit with him, she ordered her usual and moved to take the seat across from him.

XXX

Naruto was sitting at a table in a small tea shop down the street from his own store. It was the only place he could find that sold Japanese style tea, which he had found held the most similarities between his world and this one.

He was sitting on his own at a table near the back of the store in the corner of the room, a book in one hand and a cup of green tea in the other. This was where Naruto always sat when he came here. When a shop waitress had asked him why he always asked for that table, he just said he liked having a wall to his back and then asked for his tea. Even on a world as peaceful as this, at least when compared his, some habits were just too hard to give up.

Without looking up from his book, Naruto let a small smile form on his face as he felt a person he recognized take the chair across from him and sit down with their own tea in hand.

"A pleasure, Raven-san. To what do I owe the pleasure of such beautiful company?"

Blushing at the compliment, Raven took a sip of her tea to calm herself before answering.

"I was on my way to your shop when I saw the closed sign and decided to come in here for a drink before you opened the store. I was surprised to see you here, through. I come here regularly and this is the first time I've seen you."

Nodding his head absently, still not looking up from his book, Naruto took another sip.

"I usually come here in the mornings for a cup of green tea; I find it helps calm the nerves for the day ahead. Maybe we just always missed each other, or it could be something as simple as you weren't looking for me."

Nodding her head at the explanation, the grey skinned teen sat back in her chair and drank her tea, eyes straying back to the blonde sat across from her every few minutes before quickly looking somewhere else.

They had been sat there for another ten minutes, before Naruto put his book down and smiled at her as he finished his tea.

"So I take it that you wanted to see another of my books, seeing as you said that you were at my store."

It wasn't a question but Raven still answered.

"Yes, I remembered you saying you normally charge, so I brought money this time. I remember seeing several books that caught my eye in your collection."

Chuckling quietly, Naruto put his empty cup on the table.

"I don't want your money Raven-san. You can look at them anytime you want, and all you have to do is ask."

"I can't do that, it wouldn't be right."

"Then think of it as my way of saying thank you for all you do for the city. Plus, if people see a pretty girl like you in my shop, I might get more customers."

After giving the girl a wink, enjoying the small blush that the simple action brought to her cheeks, they left the tea shop and made their way down the street to his store.

XXX

For the next month, Raven would often be found at the small book store whenever she wasn't saving the city with her friends. She would spend hours reading the books he showed her, while Naruto himself would move around his shop like normal, seeing to his customers and restocking the shelves.

Raven would also go to the tea shop at the same time every morning and have a cup of tea with the blonde. They would talk, discuss books, then go to his store, where she would read while he set up for the day. Naruto had made a habit of teasing her every time they talked, seeming to take joy from the fact he was probably one of the only people to ever make her blush.

She had been spending so much time with him over the last month that her friends had started to notice her absence. For the most part, they wanted to respect her privacy, but after a month of her hardly being around even the Robin was starting to get curious.

XXX

Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire were all sitting in the common room eating breakfast when Raven walked in.

"I'm going out, I'll be back later. If you need me, call."

Turning to leave the room, she was stopped by a call from her brightly dressed leader. Raven looked over at him with a small frown on her face. Putting down his bowl of cereal, Robin stood up and walked over to his grey skinned friend, the eyes of the others following him the whole time.

"What's with you lately? You're hardly ever here, and the most time we've spent together is on missions."

Leveling a blank look at the Titan's leader, Raven let her voice go completely natural as she spoke.

"What I do, outside of missions, is none of your business. Leave me alone."

At her words, the others moved to stand with Robin and looked at her with worried faces. Floating in the air next to Raven, Starfire put her hand on the dark girls shoulder to get her attention.

"Please, friend Raven, do not be like that. We are just worried for you."

Plastering a big smile on his face, BB moved to stand on her other side.

"Like yeah, we hardly even see you anymore! Where'd you go all the time?"

Letting out a small growl, Raven turned her back on her friends and disappeared into her aura.

Shaking his head and letting out a sigh, Robin moved over to his computer and started typing. As he was doing this, Cyborg came up behind him and looked over his shoulder, frowning when he saw Raven's tracking signal from her communicator on the screen.

"You know, if she finds out your tracking her, she'll kill you right?"

"I know, but something's not right... And this is the only way to find out what."

XXX

By using the tracker in Ravens communicator, they were able to follow her signal to a small book store not far from where they knew her favorite tea shop was located. It didn't look like much from outside and didn't even have a name, just a sign announcing it as a book store.

Looking from his communicator, which showed a small red dot indicating that she was inside, to the front door, Robin hesitated for a moment. If they walked through that door, there would be no going back. It was a huge violation of Ravens privacy and, if she found out about it, which she most likely would, he wasn't sure if Raven would forgive them for it.

Walking up to the smaller boy and putting a hand on his shoulder, Cyborg looked at the door with a worried expression.

"You sure about this Rob?"

Letting out a sigh, Robin steeled his nerve and walked through the door without answering the mechanical teen. Starfire and Beast Boy entered right behind him, a still worried Cyborg trailing after them.

XXX

The moment they entered his store, Naruto knew his day, if not his new life, had just gotten a lot harder.

He was at the counter giving a customer their change when he heard the small bell above the door ring. He looked up to see the Teen Titans, minus Raven because she was already here. It was obvious they were looking for her from the way they seemed to be scanning the room, hardly even sparing a glance at the books.

When he was done with the customer, the blonde teen let out a sigh and made his way over to the group of 'hero's' who still hadn't noticed the balcony overlooking the store. Not that they would have even seen Raven if they did without going up. The grey skinned girl always sat at the same table in the back so she was less likely to be bothered.

Deciding to address Robin, seeing as he was the leader, Naruto put a smile on his face and held out his hand.

"Hello, my name is Naruto. Welcome to my store. Is there anything in particular I can help you find?"

Looking at the offered hand for a moment as if to make sure he didn't have a weapon, Robin smiled back and took it in a firm handshake, before introducing himself and the others with him.

"Hey, I'm Robin. This is Starfire, Beastboy and Cyborg. We're actually here looking for our friend. Maybe you've seen her? Blue cloak, grey skin, kind of quiet?"

Pretending to think about it for a minute, Naruto brought his hand up to his chin in a thinking pose before nodding his head.

"You must mean Raven-chan. I can get her if you want, or I should just take you to her?"

Smiling, Robin gestured for the taller boy to lead the way. They followed him to the set of spiral stairs that lead to the balcony. As they came to the top, Naruto turned to the group and pointed towards the glass display cases around the room.

"I'm afraid I must ask you not to touch anything. All of the books up here are extremely valuable, and I would hate to have to charge you if any were damaged."

At his words, both Beast Boy and Starfire gave nervous chuckles while scratching the backs of their heads, before walking back to stand with Robin and Cyborg. All of them were careful not to touch anything and keep their hands at their sides.

Raising an eyebrow at the blond, Robin walked over to one of the displays and looked at what seemed to be an old book open to a random page with slightly faded lettering. Turning back to Naruto, he let his curiosity get the better of him.

"When you say valuable...?"

Walking over to stand next to him, Naruto took a look at the book he had been looking at and smiled.

"That book, the one you were looking at a moment ago, is worth over 18,000 dollars alone."

Eyes widening slightly at his words, Robin backed away from the case slowly and looked around the room. It didn't take him long to spot Raven sitting at the back with a pair of rubber gloves on her hands and an old leather bound book on the table in front of her. She was so focused on her reading that she didn't even notice as Robin and the others came up behind her and looked over her shoulder at the book.

Shaking his head at their antics, Naruto walked up to the table and coughed, smiling when the grey skinned girl instantly looked up at him. Without saying a word, he pointed for her turn around and tried to suppress his laughter at the shocked expression on her face when she saw her friends.

Unfortunately, her shock didn't last long and quickly changed to anger, shortly followed by a chair at another table suddenly flying across the room and smashing into a wall at high speeds and shattering.

"What the hell are you guys doing here? I told you to leave me alone!"

Quickly stepping between the now scared teens and angry girl, Naruto raised his hands as a peaceful gesture to get her attention.

"I can understand you are angry, Raven-chan, but I must ask you to calm down before you break anything else."

Taking deep breaths, the grey skinned Titan slowly calmed herself down before nodding her thanks to Naruto and looking to her friends with a slightly annoyed look.

"Why are you here? Are you spying on me now?"

Floating over in front of her friend, Starfire let a big smile cross her face, oblivious to the situation at hand.

"Indeed we did friend Raven, and because of that we were able to find you, is it not glorious!"

Raising an eyebrow at the odd way the girl spoke, Naruto excused himself for a moment and went back down the stairs. He could hear them arguing, something about them not trusting her and Raven them, but for the most part he didn't really care. It was their problem, not his.

Walking through the shelves until he found the book he was looking for, Naruto returned to find Robin and Raven still arguing. It looked like Raven was about ready to lose her temper again so he decided to interrupt with another cough. When he had their attention, the blonde walked up to the alien girl still floating in the air and held out a small book for her to take.

When he saw the confused look on her face, he smiled gently and explained.

"It's a book on the English language. I thought it might be useful for you. It helped me a lot when I was learning."

Forgetting their argument for the moment, Robin walked over and looked at the book with a curious expression before raising an unseen eyebrow at Naruto, who was trying not to laugh at the way his mask seemed to move with it.

"I thought I recognized your accent. Japanese, right?"

"That's right, you speak?"

"Not really, I just remembered you adding 'chan' to the end of Ravens name before. So how long have you been in America?"

"About 3 years, I lived in a small village in a not well know region."

As they talked, Naruto moved over to the table Raven had been sitting at before and locked the book back in its display case. It was as he was doing this that a middle-aged man in an expensive looking business suit came walking up the stairs with another larger man with a pair of dark sunglasses and a shaved head. It took her a moment, but Raven recognized the smaller of the two as the man she had seen being thrown out of the store the first time she came here, Mister Gold.

He had long dark brown hair tied into a small ponytail and a smirk on his face as his eyes fixed on Naruto. He walked with a cane and barely spared the others in the room a glance as he made his way over to the blonde, the large man only a few steps behind him.

"Mister Uzumaki. I was hoping you might reconsider the offer I made you last month. Many of the books you possess are extremely valuable, and shouldn't be handled by just anyone."

Raising an eyebrow at the slightly shorter man and sending a quick glance toward the larger one standing behind him, Naruto seemed to be thinking about it for a moment before he turned away from the both of them in a dismissive way to look at one of the display cases absentmindedly.

"As I told you before, Gold-san, I have no interest in selling any of my collection to you. If that is the only reason you have come here, then I am afraid you've wasted a journey. Now, I think you should leave."

The smug look that had been on the older man's face quickly dropped and he practically snarled. Looking to the man behind him and nodding his head, Mister Gold turned back to the blonde.

"I had hoped you would see reason, but if money will not sway you, then maybe this will."

Walking up so he was stood next to the smaller boy, the larger man reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, aiming it right at Naruto's head with only about 3 inches between his skull and the barrel. The others stood frozen for a moment, shocked at the open display of violence.

Walking over to the blonde with his smirk back in place, Mister Gold leaned in so he was only a few inches away from his whiskered face.

"Not so tough now are you?"

Just as Naruto was about to knock the gun out of the thugs hand, it was covered in a black glow just before being thrown across the room. Without thinking, the large man tried to follow his weapon and didn't even notice Robin pulling out a small pole from his belt, which then turned into a bo-staff. He didn't make it more three feet before the staff slammed into his stomach, leaving him winded and gasping on the floor.

Robin put his staff away and leveled a hard glare at the now cowering Mister Gold.

"Naruto is right, it's time for you to leave."

At the teen's words, the middle aged man quickly ran down the stairs and out of the door, the still slightly winded thug not far behind. Turning to the four teens with a smile on his face, Naruto nodded his head to the group and made his way over.

"Thank you for that. Some people don't know when no means no."

Casting one last look towards the door where he had last seen the two men before they left, Robin walked over to where the gun had been left on the ground and picked it up, a small frown on his face. He looked from the small weapon to Naruto, taking in the blondes reaction to what had just happened and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Is this normal for you, being held at gun point I mean?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto made his way back down the stairs to deal with a customer waiting at the counter, the Titians following.

"Not really, but it's not the first time. People can get a little crazy about books, especially rare ones."

Looking at the blonde with wide eyes, Beast Boy couldn't help but express his opinion about that.

"Dude, that's so cool!"

Giving the man at the counter his change with a small chuckle, Naruto just shrugged off his words and smiled at them.

"This, coming from a hero."

Giving a large sheepish grin while rubbing the back of his head, the green teen moved away from the group to look for a book on animals, hoping to find something new he might be able to change into, with Cyborg going off to look for a book on mechanics since he was in a book store anyway. Starfire followed him as she floated through the air reading the book Naruto had given her.

With the others gone, Raven turned her attention back to Robin and let a small frown cross her lips.

"How did you find me here anyway?"

Both the blonde and purple haired teens could see the brightly dressed boy begin to sweat under their curios gazes, before he seemed to have an idea.

"We... err; we went to look for you at the tea shop, but, when we couldn't find you there, we decided to look around."

Before she had time to question him on his answer, Raven was interrupted by Naruto chuckling.

"You're not a very good liar, are you, traffic light-san?"

"Traffic light?"

"Robin, how did you find me here?"

Looking down with a defeated look on his face, the boy wonder let out a sigh of resignation.

"We used the tracker in your communicator."

Across the room, several books started flying of the shelves and fell into piles on the floor.

"You what!"

Backing away slightly from the clearly upset Raven, Robin soon found his back against a wall with nowhere to go.

"We were worried about you. For the last month, you've been acting strangely and whenever any of us tried to ask you about it, you'd teleport away like you did this morning."

"I told you it was none of your business! What I do in my spare time is my own responsibility! You had no right to do this!"

As their argument started getting more and more heated, the other Titans could be seen poking their heads out from behind the shelves to watch what was happening, while keeping a good distance so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. As this was going on, Naruto walked over to the piles of books on the floor and calmly started putting them back into their rightful places, seeming not to notice the fight going on in his store.

After all the books were back in order, the blonde teen walked back and stood to the side for a moment, watching the two with an amused look on his face before coughing into his hand to get their attention.

"As cute as you are when angry, Raven-chan, I would appreciate it if you not do this here. I'm not sure how much more my store can take."

It was at this point, something happened that left Robin, Starfire, Beastboy and Cyborg in a state of shock. Something they had never seen happen in all the years they had known the grey skinned girl. There, right before their eyes, was a blushing Raven.

XXX

All the Titans were gathered in the common room in the tower, the large couch occupied by Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire as they watched the fight still going on between the other two members of their team. However, unlike the one they had been having while at Naruto's book store, this one wasn't about Robin not respecting Raven's privacy.

"You should have told us you had a boyfriend! What if he's an enemy?"

Letting out a growl for what seemed like the millionth time, the grey skinned girl leaned forward so she was only inches away from the boy wonders face.

"For the last time, he's not my boyfriend! We're just friends!"

"You still should have said something! Now we need to do a background check on him."

"No, you don't! You don't need to know everything about everyone, Robin."

"You saw what happened! He didn't even bat an eye when that gun was inches away from his head. No matter how much he tried to brush it off, normal people don't do that!"

"...if you keep acting like this, it will cost you friends. Starting. With. Me."

Her words seemed enough to shock the brightly dressed boy out of his anger as he stared at the girl with wide eyes for a moment before she turned her back to him and stormed off. His shock soon turned back to anger. Robin turned to face his other friends, crossed his arms over his chest and pouted slightly.

"What's her problem?"

Scowling at the smaller boy, Cyborg shook his head.

"Not this time, Rob. I'm not backing you up on this. I told you not to do it. You went too far this time! We all have a right to a personal life."

"Not you too! Come on Star, BB, you agree with me, right? I was just trying to protect the team!"

When he saw that neither of them could meet his eye, Robin seemed to visibly deflate. Letting out a sigh, he sank into the arm chair next to the couch and ran a hand over his face.

"I made a mess of things again didn't I?"

XXX

Back at Naruto's, the blonde was in the middle of his daily workout. When he had first finished his underground home, he had made sure to make a room specifically for physical training and filled it with all the latest workout equipment he could find. His workout consisted of 300 sit ups and pushups, 300 pull ups and stomach crunches, weight lifting and a ten mile run on his treadmill. After that, he would increase the weight seals on his arms and legs and do 300 kicks and punches for each arm and leg before practicing the katas that his clones had learned for an hour. It would normally take him around 3 hours to finish the whole workout and, after a few minutes of heavy breathing, it would be as if he hadn't even down anything.

As he finished his punches and moved on to kicks, sweat poured down his face as the sound of his music blasted around the room from the speakers mounted on the wall. The song was called "Pump It" by a band called the Black Eyed Peas and he often listened to it when doing his workout, because of the fast pace.

He couldn't help but think about what had happened that day.

He had known the first time he saw her, that Raven would undoubtedly complicate his new life when she had walked through his door. The fact that she was a Teen Titan made it inevitable that the others would find out about him when she spent so much time reading through the books he had on display in the store.

The whole incident with Mister Gold had just made it worse; he had seen the look in Robin's eyes after the two men had left. They had been calculating, as if he was looking at a particularly interesting frog just before slicing open it stomach with a scalpel. The leader knew something was different about him and if Naruto had done his homework on the walking traffic light, it wouldn't be long before he did a background check on him.

He wasn't too worried, the papers he had acquired were almost perfect and most professionals wouldn't be able to tell they were all fakes. But nothing was ever completely foolproof. All it would take is one bit of information that didn't add up and he was sure Robin would have him in an integration room the first chance he got. Well, he would try at least.

"_You should just take care of them all now before he gets the chance._"

"_That's enough out of you, Wrath! Go crawl back into your hole and mope."_

Naruto could hear mumble in the back of his head for a moment before everything went quiet again. Sending a silent thank you to Lust for shutting the irritable sin up, he worried, as always, that Lust seemed to be the voice of reason more often than not out of the seven of them. Shaking his head to try and clear it, he focused back on his workout.

When he had finished, the blonde had a shower and made himself a quick dinner, before moving to his seal study and looking through his notes on the 'Flying Thunder God Jutsu' his father had created. As much as he hated the man, Naruto couldn't help but admire his skill. The Jutsu was a true masterpiece, nothing he had seen in the other scrolls could compare to it in combat ability.

He had actually finished learning it four months ago, with the use of shadow clones, of course, and had decided to try and improve it. Spending hours at a time pouring over different sealing matrix and Jutsu theory he had come up with several ideas. After whittling them down to the most likely to work, he had come up with the idea of combining the Flaying Thunder God with a simple Body Flicker Jutsu. He was hoping that when he was finished it, it would have the speed of the Thunder God and the range and ease of use of the Body Flicker.

After another hour of studying, Naruto let out a sigh, running a hand over his face and standing from his desk. He couldn't focus with his head full of what had happened with the Titans, and he didn't want to make a mistake because he was only paying half his attention to his work.

Putting his research back in its place in a small safe hidden behind one of the shelves filled with scrolls, the blonde made his way to his room and turned in for the night. As his eyes started to close he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face when he thought about the Titans' reaction when they realized just what was in the book he had given to Starfire.

XXX

Every Monday and Wednesday Naruto would have a day off from running the store and just leave it closed. He would use these days to shop, read, train, and research his seals. It was one of the only times, apart from his trips to the tea shop every morning, that he actually left the building. He would go to a club on occasion, or walk around the park just to stop himself from going stir crazy, but for the most part he liked to stay out of the public eye as much as possible.

But today was different.

The day before, Raven had come to him at the end of the day and invited him to come and see her own book collection, as a thank you for letting her see his. He had been reluctant at first, not just for the fact that she lived in a giant T built on an island in the middle of the river, leaving it completely open to attack, but also because if he was seen in or around the Titan Tower, it would most likely end up on the news. If that happened, he could say goodbye to his peaceful new life.

In the end, there were three reasons that made him agree to come. One, he couldn't resist the chance to see the books. Two, it would probably make the traffic light more suspicious. And three, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he really did like spending time with Raven.

The blonde knew it was a stupid risk, but he couldn't help the way he felt. He still wasn't sure if he liked her as more than a friend, and wasn't completely sure he wanted to see her in that manner. He may enjoy teasing her, and when she would give him one of her rare smiles he couldn't help but smile back, but a relationship with her would destroy everything he had done up to now to have a normal life.

They had met up at their usual table in the tea shop at the same time they always did, talking for a while and then leaving. When they were outside, Raven had placed her hands on his shoulders, a large blush on her face, and used her aura to transport them just outside the tower.

It had been a strange feeling, like being plunged into cold water and, even though he had recovered instantly, the blonde had made a show of wobbling on his feet for several minutes after they reappeared. He had seen the camera's pointed towards them and was sure Robin would be watching every move he made.

Taking a deep breath to steal his nerves, Naruto let Raven lead him into the tower, fixing a small smile on his face as they went.

XXX

**Beta'd by Sihv**

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**Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think :)**


	3. The Screaming Statue

**Enjoy :)**

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**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

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**Beta'd by Sihv**

XXX

Chapter 3- The Screaming Statue

If nothing else, Naruto had to admit that the tower was impressive. For one thing, even through only five teens lived in it, he couldn't see a speck of dust anywhere. He guessed that they must have had some kind of robot or something to clean, seeing as everything else seemed to be completely automatic. The doors opened on their own, the lights turned on by themselves and he could have swore the security cameras were following his every move.

Another thing he couldn't argue with was the view.

Whenever they passed one of the many windows that covered the outside of the tower, he was treated to an impressive view of the city. Naruto was sure that it would be all the more impressive first thing in the morning, with the sunrise, and last thing in the day, when the sun set.

They had been walking for about five minutes, Raven explaining things as they went, before coming to a stop in a large circular room, that he guessed was a common room. He could see a big U-shaped couch that looked like it could seat six, two armchairs on either side of it, and all of that facing a humongous TV. Set to the side of the room was a small kitchen and several computers were scattered around the room.

He could see Beast Boy and Cyborg sitting on the couch, playing a videogame on the large screen TV and yelling at each other as the green teen seemed to be winning. Starfire was moving around the kitchen, humming happily to herself, and mixing several random ingredients into a large pot on the stove, which Naruto could have sworn was growling. Robin sat to the side of the room, typing at one of the computers.

It was a very open room, with a large window stretching across one of the walls with a perfect view of Jump City. Off to one side, he noticed a table with a photo on it of a cute blonde girl and another next to it of the same girl stood with the Titans, smiling at the camera.

Seeing both Raven and Naruto standing at the door, Starfire grinned happily at the two before rushing over and giving the blonde a bone crushing huge, literally. Raven could have sworn she heard a few bones cracking under the strain.

"Friend Ravens, friend Naruto, it is fucking glorious to see you again! I hope you have been well. We have all been bloody brilliant since the last time we met!"

Staring at the girl floating in front of him for a moment and noting the groans from the others in the room, including the brightly dressed Titan slapping a hand to his head in a tired manner, the ex-ninja could only hold it in for about ten seconds before he burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, it's good to see you to Star-san. I'm glad to see you have been reading that book I gave you."

Nodding her head enthusiastically as the others walked over to join them, Starfire flew over to the other side of the room and back again with the book in her hands.

"Indeed, it has been bloody wonderful. I have been able to learn many new words from it like shit, fuck, hell, bloody hell and motherfucker."

Naruto found it hard to believe that she was able to say all of that, while still looking so innocent.

"You gave her a book on how to swear."

Turning his attention to the boy wonder standing to his right with an annoyed expression on his face, Naruto smiled gently.

"So?"

Waving his arms in the air frantically, Beast Boy's voice went several octaves higher as he all but shouted.

"Dude she hasn't stopped! Ever since she stared reading that book, all she does is swear! I thought you said you used it when learning English."

"I did. It was most helpful in learning when someone was insulting me."

After he said that, all the Titans but Starfire, who didn't really understand what was going on, face faulted. Shaking her head, Raven grabbed the blonde's hand before the others had recovered, trying her hardest to hide the blush on her face, and pulled him out of the common room toward her own.

Closing the door behind them, the blue haired teen let out a sigh before turning to look at Naruto, only to see him looking around her room.

Turning to look at her over his shoulder with a small smirk on his face, Naruto turned back to look at the books case next to her bed.

"Dragging a boy into your room so suddenly... I had no idea you were so daring Raven-chan."

He could practically feel the heat come off her face from across the room, and was trying his hardest not to laugh at the poor girls embarrassment. Taking another look around the room while he waited for Raven to pull herself together, he couldn't help but think just how much the room seemed to fit the teen.

The windows were covered by thick black curtains, the only light in the room coming from a small lamp on her bedside table, and the walls were painted a dark blue that was as close to black as it could get. There wasn't much in the way of decoration; the only things in the room being her bed, a small desk, a bookshelf and a large ornamental mirror that was half covered by a sheet. He could see two doors other than the one they had come through and suspected they were her closet and bathroom.

Walking over and sitting on her bed with an amused look on his face, the blonde winked at Raven who was still stood by the door as if frozen in place. Shaking her head and sending a small glare at the now grinning Naruto sitting on her bed, Raven moved over to her bookcase. Pulling out several old looking books, she moved to sit next to him, still blushing from his earlier words.

XXX

They spent about four hours in Ravens room, just reading and talking about random things. Naruto was actually a little impressed by the books she had in her possession, not that they could really compare to his own. He was also glad to see that none of them were dangerous enough for him to consider stealing them to lock away in his library.

He didn't want to do something like that to the girl. She had brought him here to show him her books, and the idea of taking any of them would have left a bad taste in his mouth. He would have done it if the need was there, but wouldn't have enjoyed it.

It was while they were talking and reading that Naruto came to the conclusion that he did, indeed, like Raven. She was smart, beautiful and, when you got to know her, could be quite witty in her sarcastic remarks. He couldn't deny it to himself anymore.

That still left him in a predicament.

The fact was that, if they were to ever have a relationship, it would destroy everything he had done over the years to ensure a relatively normal life. What she did, and the fact the Titans were always in the public eye, meant if he was dating Raven, it would probably be all over the Jump City news in next to no time at all.

But despite that, he couldn't stop the small voice in the back of his head that kept telling him it would be worth it. Then again, he never could shut Lust up to begin with, so that wasn't really saying much.

That was another thing he had learned about the Seven Sins in his head; they not only represented the thing they were named after but also any and all emotions and mind sets around it as well. Even then, he was only really able to understand Lust and Wrath, them being the easiest to understand. They were for the most part complete opposites, light and dark, happy and sad, yin and yang.

Wrath stood for everything bad that had happened in his life, and was the oldest of his voices as far as he could tell. It stood for anger and resentment, but also sadness and depression. It was a living, sort of, representation of the pain in his life. Every insult, every time he was attacked, every little thing that ever happened to him had gone into creating it. When looking back on his life, he couldn't say he was surprised that it was the first.

Lust stood for everything good that had happened in his life, and had been the last of the voices to appear. It had started talking to him around the time he first became a ninja. It was the happiest he had ever been before that time and, from what he could understand, that was what had created it: love, caring, happiness and everything that went with it.

Sloth was actually the second voice he had gained, for reasons he didn't really understand. The lazy voice represented his intelligence. It really did remind him of Shikamaru. Another thing he had discovered was that it also stood for acceptance. Sloth was the embodiment of accepting what life threw at someone.

After Sloth, came Envy, formed after watching how other kids lived, with loving family and friends that cared about them. Gluttony had been born from his time on the streets, digging through the trash for the smallest scrap of food. Greed had arrived the first time he had been forced to hide something from other people, when he didn't want to share, and Pride, the first time he had done something right in the academy.

Basically, he had seven spilt personalities as a result of his crappy life in Konoha.

After finishing looking through the last of her books, they stayed in the dark room for another half an hour before moving back to the common room to get something to eat. Just like the first time they had come to the room, the other Titans were there. Beast Boy and Cyborg seemed to be arguing over what takeout they should get.

Hearing the sigh that escaped Ravens lips, Naruto could only assume that this wasn't the first time they had had this particular fight. Looking over to the kitchen unit, the blonde made his way over to the fridge and started to look for anything he could use as ingredients. Raven followed with a curious look upon her face. When he started pulling things out and putting them on the counter, the other noticed the two in the room for the first time and watched as the blonde moved around the small kitchen like a professional, throwing away anything that had gone out of date as he sorted through what they had.

An hour later, the sun had just started to set, bathing the city in a golden red glow, and the Titans were all sitting around the dinner table as Naruto brought them the food he had cooked. With the exception of Beast Boy, who had a salad, he made them all steak dinners.

After taking the first bite, Cyborg couldn't help the drawl that fell out of the corner of his mouth, even Robin couldn't help the satisfied sigh that escaped his lips at the taste. Looking at the blonde sitting across from him at the table, the mechanical teen grinned.

"This is great, where'd you learn to cook like this?"

Seeing the eyes of all the Titans fixed on him, Naruto gave them a small smile as he finished his mouthful.

"I'm an orphan; I needed to learn to take care of myself at a young age. Cooking was just one of the things I had to learn."

"Didn't you live in a home or something?"

"It's complicated. Let's just say I've been on my own for a long time and leave it at that."

Staring at him with a confused expression on her face, Starfire leaned forward to look at the blonde.

"Excuse my lack of understanding, Friend Naruto, but what the hell is an orphan?"

Deciding to spare the blonde from having to explain, Robin turned to the alien girl sat next to him.

"An orphan is what humans call a child when they no longer have parents, Star."

Letting out a gasp, she looked back to Naruto with tears in her eyes, surprising the ex-nin at the sudden mood changes she seemed to be having. He had just enough time to brace himself before she flew over and pulled him into yet another back breaking hug.

"But that is fucking terrible; to not have any family must be so sad."

After a moment of struggling to get out of the death grip, Naruto gave the still crying girl an odd look.

"Are you bi-polar or something?"

Shaking her head, Raven looked up from her meal and sighed.

"She's a Tamaranian; her people are almost completely ruled by their emotions."

After that, they ate in silence, enjoying the meal Naruto had made. When they were done, and the dishes were washed, the group moved to the couch. They spent some time talking, Beast Boy asking Naruto about his favorite video games and music while the others did their own thing. Robin had tried to ask him several questions about his past, but was always stopped by a glare from Raven, who had taken the seat next to her guest.

It was getting late, and Naruto was getting ready to leave, when he decided to ask about the pictures he had seen earlier, the ones with the blonde girl in them. Walking over and picking up the picture of her and the other teens, he turned a quizzical eye to Raven.

"I was wondering, who's this girl?"

Looking at the photo in his hand, the room suddenly went deadly quite and they all adopted sad looks on their faces. Surprisingly, it was Beast Boy who answered him, in a serious voice that didn't really suit the green teen.

"That's Terra, she was a good friend. There was an accident, and she got turned into stone."

Blinking at the boy in confusion, he saw Cyborg walk over to one of the computers. After typing for a moment, he brought up a live image of what look like a statue of the girl he had seen in the photo. Turning to look at the blonde over his shoulder, Cyborg explained.

"Terra had a problem. She had the ability to control earth with her mind, but wasn't able to control it. Because of that, she had a hard life and people chased her way from their towns in fear that she would cause earthquakes. We tried to help her, but we were too late. She made a deal with the wrong guy and ended up killing him, turning to stone in the process. She saved all our lives."

Staring at the picture with an unreadable expression on his face, Robin took note that Naruto's hands had started shaking and his whole body seemed to have gone stiff.

"Hated... for something that wasn't her fault."

The words were spoken so softly that they almost didn't hear them.

XXX

Naruto's mind was going through a range of different emotions, most of them not good. Looking at the pictures on the screen and in his hand, he couldn't help but see his and Gaara's faces overlapping hers, as if they were taunting him.

Of all the things he was expecting to hear, this was not one of them. A troubled young girl, that had issues but died, would have been sad but not that big a deal. A girl that had live a similar life he had, and was now trapped in a prison of her own making, how was he supposed to ignore that? He could hear all seven voices talking over each other in his head, clambering over each other to be heard, talking at the same time. His head felt like it was splitting open and the world around him seemed to be spinning, images of a mountain covered in large stone frogs flashing through his head. He could hear his own heart beating in his ears, banging the inside of his head like a drum.

Grabbing the sides of his head and gritting his teeth, he looked at the live video again, right into the stone eyes of the statue. That was when he started to heard a girl screaming. It wasn't fair; all he wanted was a normal life. Why did this have to happen now! Seeing the others looking at him with worry in their eyes, he turned his back to the video, his right hand still clutching his head and his face scrunched up in pain.

And just as soon as it started, the pain was gone, the spinning and the voices stopped, and he could once again think clearly. Letting out a breath, Naruto turned tired eyes to the worried faces of the Titans and forced a smile to form over his lips.

"I think it's time I go home."

Looking to Robin for a moment as if to be sure it was ok, Raven stepped over to the blonde and rested a hand on his shoulder and they both disappeared.

XXX

Raven had them appear inside the store; the lack of light giving it an ominous feel to it as she watched Naruto stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance and leaning against one of the shelves. After taking a few deep breaths, the blonde smiled towards the blue haired teen and let out a small chuckle.

"Well, I had a great time hanging out with you and your friends. We should do it again sometime."

"... Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine. I'm just a little tired. You should get back."

After a moment of hesitation, Raven nodded her head and left without another word, using her aura to teleport back to the tower.

Right after she left, Naruto seemed to shrink into himself slightly. He leaned back against the shelf for a moment to catch his breath, before he made his way to his underground home.

When he got there, he stopped with one hand on the door to his library where he kept the books from this world, taking a moment to think about what he was about to do and what might come from it.

One of the first things he had learned, when he had started collecting these books, was that he was unable to use magic. From what he could understand, magic and chakra just weren't compatible. This was one the reasons he had decided it was his duty to keep them locked away. He may be able to read and memorize them, but he could never use what he learned.

The thing that worried him was that if he went through with what he was thinking, it would mean he might have to explain a few things to the Titans that he really didn't want to get into. Letting his mind stray back to the live video of the girl, and the screaming in his head, Naruto steeled his nerves and smeared a little blood on the handle to open the door.

The inside of the room looked more like a high tech vault, then it did a library, with bright florescent lights, steel lined floors, walls covered in drawers, and a large box coved with more drawers, bolted down to the floor in the middle of the room. On the wall, just on the inside of the door, to his left was a security pad.

Reaching over to the keypad, careful not to step on the floor, he typed in a six digit code. He watched as the floor flashed for a moment, before bending down and wiping more blood on the ground four inches away from the doorframe. He watched as a large seal matrix came to life over the whole room with a blue glow.

Waiting until it faded, he walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

XXX

Naruto spent the next two weeks straight in that room, reading through book after book and taking notes on anything that might be relevant. Because of his healing ability, the blonde could go up to a month straight without food or water and, if needed, could get by with only an hour of sleep for every three days. It was an ability he couldn't help but associate with bad memories, because they were all things he had discovered while he lived on the streets as a kid.

He had done this because he was looking for anything he could find on Earth Elementals, as they were called in this world. He had remembered seeing several references to them in a couple of his books when he had first acquired them, before putting them into storage. He had been hoping to find a cure for the girl within his collection.

It took him two weeks, and 57 books, but he had finally found it.

From what he had read, Elementals were a race of powerful natural wizards and witches that were so in tune with nature that they were born with the ability to control one of the four elements; Wind, Fire, Water and Earth. He didn't know what happened to them all, but whatever it was they almost all died out around two thousand years ago.

From what he had learned, what had happened to Terra was not uncommon among Earth Elementals. It was some kind of last resort defense that they had, that would activate automatically when their life was in danger. Back in the times when Elemental had been more common, this wouldn't have been a problem because it was common knowledge how to release them. For Terra, however, there had been no one that knew how. Another thing he had read was that, while in that state, the Elemental was completely self aware. Meaning that she was literally trapped in her own skin, which might explain why he had heard her screaming.

Because of his training with Jiraiya and the toads, Naruto was highly tuned to nature in a similar way to how the Elementals of old had been. Not exactly the same, but enough for him to connect with her on a subconscious level.

Ever since he had heard it, Naruto hadn't been able to get the scream out of his head. No matter how hard he tried, it was constantly there. Not even his sins had been able to quiet it for him, and it had made it all the harder to concentrate on finding a way to help her.

The moment he had finished, the blonde left the room, reengaging the security system. Using a seal he had planted near Titan Tower in a blind spot of the cameras, the day Raven had taking him there, he disappeared in a bright flash.

XXX

Appearing next to Titan Tower in a flash of yellow light, Naruto walked straight to the door and banged on it loudly. In the back of his mind, he took note of the fact that it was dark out, but all things considered he really didn't care. After a few minutes of waiting, he heard a small beeping noise and looked to his right to see an image of a half asleep Robin on a video screen next to the door.

"Naruto...? Is that you? How the hell did you get here at four in the morning? Where have you been? Raven's been worried sick about you."

Taking in the blondes agitated movement as he shifted from foot to foot constantly; Robin took a moment to look at him. His clothes were all ruffled, and looked to have multiple sweat stains on them. What he could see of the blonde's hair was dirty and tangled into knots . The bags under his eyes gave him a haunted look and his skin was so pale, the bird named hero was worried he might be about to collapse on their door step.

"I need to talk to all of you. Can you let me in and gather the others?"

"What's this about?"

"I'll tell you when you're all in one place."

After seeming to think about it for a moment, Robin nodded his head.

"Ok, I'll get the others and then come get you. Wait there."

About fifteen minutes later, the door opened to show Robin standing in full gear with a small frown on his face.

"What happened to you?"

Naruto shook his head and motioned for him to lead the way. The boy-wonder gave the blonde a worried look, before turning around and leading him back through the tower to the common room. When they entered, Naruto saw all the Titans in different states of awareness, with Cyborg being the most alert, followed by Raven , Starfire and a lastly Beast Boy, who was stood in the middle of the room, eyes closed and a large snot bobble coming out of his nose.

The second they saw Naruto, all three gasped, with Raven quickly making her way over to the blonde and Cyborg hitting his green friend in the back of the head to wake him up.

When she reached him, the grey skinned teen pulled him into a hug, slightly shocking the others, before yelling at him.

"Where the hell have you been? I was worried sick about you! I went to the store and it was closed! I waited in the tea shop, but you never came! Now you show up here in the middle of the night, looking like you've been in a hole for the last two week. What the _hell_ is going on?"

Taking a moment for his sleep deprived brain to understand everything she said, Naruto let a small, tired smile form on his lips and mentally laughed at just how close she was, saying things about him being in a hole.

"It's good to see you too, Raven-chan."

Letting out a frustrated growl, she punched the blonde lightly in the arm. She let out a shout of surprise when he fell over, lying on the floor limply.

"Naruto!"

Rushing over to look at the boy, the Titans leaned over him and saw he was staring at the roof with tired eyes. The small smile was still on his face as he chuckled lightly.

"I'm fine, just tired. Could one of you help me to the couch? I don't think I can move."

Bending down and lifting the limp Naruto over his shoulder Cyborg carried him over to the couch and set him down in the seat facing them all.

"Thank you very much. Might I just add that your shoulder is extremely hard and painful."

Sharing a worried look between each other, the Titans turned to the obviously delirious boy and took a step back so that Robin could look him in the face.

"Naruto, what are you doing here? How did you even get to the island?"

At his question, the blonde shook his head and adapted a serious expression that surprised the five teens watching because of how he had been moments before. Looking Robin in the eye, Naruto let out a sigh and ran a hand over his face.

"I need you all to understand. There are some things I can't explain to you right now, and I have good reasons why. I need you all to trust me."

After sharing yet another look between themselves, the group of teens reluctantly nodded their heads.

Smiling at them, Naruto reached into the bag he had slung over his should, that the others had only just realized he had, and pulled out a piece of paper. He held it out towards Raven. Taking the paper straight away, she quickly read what was on the paper and gasped, turning shocked eyes to the boy in front of her.

"Where did you find this?"

"I already told you. There are things I can't explain. Just know what's written on that paper is the reason I've been off the grid for the last two weeks."

Turning to look at her, Robin let a small frown cross his face.

"What's on the paper?"

Without answering, Raven wrapped the group in her aura, including Naruto. Before they knew what was going on, they found themselves outside a very familiar cave. Without stopping to explain why she brought them here, Raven walked off in the direction of Terra, leaving the others to follow. Luckily, Naruto seemed to have caught his second wind and didn't need to be carried anymore.

As they got closer, Naruto started to hear the screaming again. Only this time louder and clearer than before. He kept grabbing onto the side of his head with a small grimace of pain on his face that didn't go unnoticed by the others.

The moment they arrived at the statue, Raven sat down on the ground with her legs crossed and started to mutter under her breath too quietly for the others to here. When Robin turned to ask Naruto what was going on, he was met with the blonde giving him a hard glare and a finger brought up to his lips in a hushing motion.

Nodding his head, they all turned back to Raven just in time to see her surrounded by her aura. A moment later it, moved to spread over the Terra statue, connecting them. When the statue was completely engulfed by the dark aura, Raven started to speak louder and faster, in a language none of them except Naruto could understand. Suddenly, without warning, she opened her eyes to show that they were glowing white like fire. Not a second later, the cave was filled with smoke.

As the smoke appeared, they had heard a scream coming from the direction of the statue before it faded into silence. They held their breath and waited for the smoke to clear so they could see what had happened.

As it got thinner, two human shaped shadows could be seen coming into view, one being supported by the other, and the sound of coughing reaching their ears. Without thinking, Beast Boy ran forward before the smoke was completely gone and let out a gasp at what he saw.

Right before his eyes, with an arm slung over Raven's shoulder for support, was Terra, her light blue eyes drooping slightly in exhaustion as she sent him a small smile.

"Beast...boy..."

At that moment, she fainted, going limp in Raven's arms.

Just as the green teen got to the two girls and picked the blonde girl up into his arms and held her close to his chest, tears in his eyes, the other Titans and Naruto arrived. The other three teens eyes widened in shock and the blonde sent a tired smile to Raven.

Closing his eyes for a moment to revel in the silence that settled around the cave now that the screaming had stop, the blonde teen started to slowly back away from the group, as they gathered around the unconscious Terra.

XXX

By the time the Titans calmed down enough to take in what was going on around them, Naruto had disappeared without a trace. Because of them needing to get Terra back to the tower, Robin decided that they would need to wait until later to find him, though he wasn't sure if he was going to thank him or interrogate the blonde yet. He would decide when they were next face to face.

The moment they were back at the tower, they all rushed to sickbay and Beast Boy gently lay the girl in his arms on a bed. They all stood back as Cyborg ran multiple tests with several different machines. After an hour of scans, he put an IV drip in her arm because she was dehydrated, and waited for her to wake up.

As they were waiting, Robin turned his attention to Raven with a question.

"What was on that paper?"

Taking her eyes off the blonde laying on the bed in front of her, the blue haired girl turned them to her leader with an unreadable expression on her face.

"A _very_ old spell that I had all but given up hope of ever finding. I've been looking for it ever since this happened to Terra. I don't know how he found it."

Deciding to join in on the conversation, Cyborg decided to add in his idea.

"He collects rare books right? Maybe he found it in one of them."

Shaking her head, Raven looked back to Terra without really seeing her, lost in her thoughts.

"I've read all his books, remember? There was nothing in any of them. This kind of information is beyond anything even he has in his collection."

"Maybe you haven't seen all his collection. What if he had others, that are more valuable, kept in a safe place? Remember that guy with the thug when we first met him? If he wasn't the first, maybe Naruto decided to hide the others."

Before they could discuss it further, a moan was heard from the bed and they all turned to see Terra shifting weakly. Slowly, she opened her eyes, looking around the room in confusion. Her eyes stayed slightly glazed over for a minute, not really seeing what was going on. Beast Boy squeezed her hand. Almost instantly, her eyes cleared up and locked on the green teen. She just stared at him for a moment, tears slowly building in her eyes. Without warning, Terra threw herself at the green teen and pulled him into a hug, crying on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of it to happen, I was just so desperate."

Gently patting her on the back, tears starting to build in his own eyes, Beast Boy held her close for a few minutes as Terra continued to cry into his shoulder, apologizing over and over again. It wasn't until 10 minutes later, when she had calmed down enough to stop crying, that the blonde realized that they weren't the only two in the room.

Looking down so that she didn't meet any of their eyes, Terra let a small sheepish smile cross her lips as she rubbed he hands together nervously.

"Um... hey guys."

All the Titans, except Raven, rushed the poor girl and pulled her into a group hug, laughing at the shocked look on her face. At the side of the bed, Raven let a small smile cross her face at the sight of her friends, including Terra, being so happy.

For the next three days, they all stayed at Terra's bedside almost constantly while she recuperated, talking and filling her in on what had happened while she was gone. Luckily, nothing bad happened in the city during those three days to call them away, which meant they didn't have to leave her alone in the tower. On the third day, Terra was able to get out of the bed, though she did need Beast Boy to help her walk seeing, and they moved to the common room.

They sat around the girl as she told them what it was like being turned into stone.

"It was terrible. I couldn't see or hear anything. Even though I could feel my body, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't move an inch. It was like I was floating in some kind of abyss and, after a while, I started to lose track of time. Minutes blended into hours, and hours into days. That was when I started screaming."

As she talked, they all saw how her eyes took on a haunted look to them and her body began to shake slightly at the memory. Because he was sitting next to her, Beast Boy put a hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her, getting a grateful smile for his efforts. Letting out a slightly shaky sigh, Terra continued.

"I don't know how long I was screaming, and I know no one could hear me. I didn't need to sleep and ,because it was in my head, I didn't need to stop so I just kept screaming. Then it happened. Out of nowhere, I saw a light. Well... not saw exactly. More like I felt it. I don't know what it was, or where it was coming from, but I knew it was far away. Then it just disappeared. I didn't see it again until just before you guy brought me back. It was so close, bright and warm like the sun. I could feel it wrapping around me like a safety blanket. The next thing I knew, I could move again and you guys were there. I felt the light linger for a moment, then it disappeared like the first time."

They all shared a confused look for a moment, trying to think of what she could have been talking about, not understanding what the light she was talking about could have been. They were all slightly shocked when Beast Boy spoke.

"You don't think... I mean, he was the only other person with us at the time... and he started acting really strange when we showed him the video link..."

Looking at each of them in turn with a questioning look on her face, Terra looked back to the green shape shifter sitting next to her and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"Who are you talking about?"

Deciding to answer her question, Robin leaned forward in his seat with a contemplative look on his masked face.

"Naruto, Raven's boyfriend-"

"He is not my Boyfriend!"

"-was with us when we changed you back. It was actually him that gave us the spell Raven used to free you. He came to the tower a few weeks before and, after he asked about you when he saw the photo on the table, we showed him a live video link we set up in the cave so we could keep an eye on you. After that he started acting weird and left. None of us saw him for two weeks. Then, out of nowhere, he showed up at the door in the middle of the night looking like he hadn't slept in days, told us not to ask any questions and gave Raven a sheet of paper with the spell on it. We came straight to the cave. He was with us but, just as we were leaving, we noticed he was nowhere to be seen."

Shrugging her shoulders slightly, Terra just smiled to herself for a moment before looking up at the group again.

"I guess I owe him my thanks."

Her eyes on the floor, Raven thought for a moment before looking back up to the blonde girl, startling Terra slightly at the intense look being directed at her.

"What did it feel like? The light, I mean. You said it was like the sun, but what else?"

Closing her eye in thought, Terra frowned slightly at the memory.

"I don't know how to explain it. Like I said, it was comforting, but that was what was being directed at me, like it was trying to make me feel better. It was so powerful, like nature itself was concentrated into one spot. I could feel it spreading warmth throughout my body. But... when I felt it in the cave, when it was so close..."

Trailing off, the teens started to panic when the earth user started to cry.

"... It was so lonely, so sad. I think it was comforting me without realizing it, because he couldn't stand the idea of something else feeling anywhere close to how it felt. It held so much pain... I don't understand... how could something so sad and in so much pain feel so good to be around? When you freed me, I wasn't screaming because of being trapped. I was screaming for the light, for its pain."

Pulling the girl into another hug as she cried into his shoulder yet again, Beast Boy looked to his friends with an even more confused look then before Terra's description.

"That don't sound anything like Naruto. He always acts so happy whenever we see him."

Frowning, Robin let out a sigh of frustration, running a hand over his face and shaking his head slightly. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, lost in his thoughts as the others waited to hear what he thought. Nodding his head to himself, the boy wonder stood up from his seat and looked to Raven and held out his hand.

"The only one that can make any sense of any of this is Naruto. It's Monday, so he wouldn't open the store. Do you have his number?"

Hesitating for a moment, Raven nodded her head and passed her mobile to her brightly dressed friend after bringing up the blondes number.

XXX

Naruto was sitting at his usual table in the tea shop, with a book in his hand and a cup of his favorite green tea on the table in front of him. After he had seen the girl was fine, and the Titans were taking care of her, the blonde had discreetly left the cave before flashing back to his home and falling to sleep in his bed. He may be able to function without much sleep, but it still took a lot out of him. The next day, he woke up at his normal time, did his morning workout, got dressed and continued his day like he would any other.

To be honest, he had thought the Titans would be at his shop with a hundred questions. Robin, he knew, would definitely be coming sooner or later with Raven only a few steps behind. But they never came. After three days had passed, there had been no sign of them, including Raven. He assumed they were with the girl, Terra, if he remembered her name correctly, and were waiting to make sure she wouldn't suffer any side effects.

That was fine by him. The longer they waited, the longer he had before he would have to answer their questions, not that he would anyway if he didn't want to.

He had just finished his tea when he felt his pocket vibrating. he pulled out his phone, taking a look at the caller ID. Naruto let out a resigned sigh before answering.

"Naruto here."

"_It's Robin. I need you to come to Titan Tower. _"

He wasn't surprised that it wasn't Raven, even if it was her phone used to call him.

"I'll be there in ten. Don't get your tights in a bunch, traffic light-san."

"My names not tr-"

Before he could finish, Naruto hung up his phone and made his way down the street, back to his shop to pick up his 'get well' present for the girl.

XXX

Exactly ten minutes later, Naruto knocked on the door and stood waiting for someone to come and let him in. Within 5 minutes, the door was opened by a serious faced Robin. After a nod to each other, they made their way to the common room in silence.

When they entered the room, the blonde ex-ninja was met with happy faces, which threw him a little. His eyes were drawn to the blonde girl sitting on the couch, who he could see was staring at him with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. He had to admit, she was pretty in a little sister kind of way, and her eyes seemed so innocent she reminded him of a baby rabbit. The thing that worried him was that, despite the baggy hospital gown she was wearing, he could easily see she was severely malnourished and her skin was a little too pale to be considered healthy. He could hear Gluttony in the back of his mind, telling him to give her something to eat before she collapsed, but did his best to ignore it.

Turning his attention to Raven as she made her way over to stand next to him, the blonde gave her a charming smile and tipped his hat to her. It was while he did this that the grey skinned girl punched him in the stomach.

Letting out an 'oof' noise, Naruto quickly recovered and sent a pouting look towards the girl, who just raised her eyebrow at him before turning away and walking away to sit on the armchair.

"What did I do this time, Raven-chan?"

"You ran off the night we went to free Terra!"

"I just thought I'd give you all your space. After all, she's your friend."

Seeing that she was refusing to meet his eye, Naruto let out a sigh before turning to the blonde girl that was still starring at him.

"It's nice to meet you, Terra-san. I hope you aren't having too many problems with re-adjusting"

For a moment, the only response he got was the girl blinking at him with her large doe like eyes before she seemed to pull herself together.

"Wha... oh yeah, I'm great. So, you're the Naruto I've been hearing so much about?"

"Whatever you heard was a malicious lie spread by a group of break-dancing bunnies, that were pissed I won all their carrots in a poker game."

At his words, everyone in the room blinked at him for a moment, not sure if he was being serious or not, before the silence was broken by Beast Boy falling off his chair in laughter. Cyborg looked close to joining him but just managed to keep his balance.

"Hahaha, dude that was great, hahaha"

Grinning at the green teen, Naruto sent a nod in his direction before turning back to Terra, who had started starring at him again. Before he could ask why, she spoke, almost shouting as she did.

"What happened to you!? What_are_ you!?"

At her question, the room went completely quite. Even Beast Boy had stopped laughing and looked towards him with a serious face that looked ridiculous from his position on the floor.

Losing the grin from his face, Naruto bent his head down slightly so the top of his face was shadowed but they could still see his eyes, which stayed locked on his fellow blonde that, despite obviously being a little shy, was staring back at him with an unflinching gaze.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean..."

Still not looking away, though she did shiver a bit at his flat tone when he spoke, Terra steeled her resolve.

"You're the one that I felt, the light I saw when I was trapped. I can still feel you, you know? Why are you so sad?"

It was several minutes before Naruto answered and, in that time, all he did was stare at the girl with a blank expression.

"Some things are better left in the past. As for what I am, that's easy. I'm just a simple store owner, who happens to collect rare books in his spare time. Nothing more, nothing less. You would do well to remember that, Terra-san. All of you would."

The air in the room stared to get thicker and thicker as Naruto spoke, leaving all a little short of breath. Then, as if a switch had been flicked, everything was back to normal. A small smile was back on the blondes' face as he reached over his shoulder and pulled a book out of his bag.

"I almost forgot. I made this for you as a get well present. I hope you like it."

Taking the book offered to her by her fellow blonde, Terra looked confused at the sudden change of emotions.

Looking at the book in her hands, knowing that the others were all learning over her shoulder to see it too, Terra ran her fingers over the soft earthy brown leather it was bound in. It was a decent sized book, about four inches thick and thirty inches long. It didn't have a title on the cover but, when she opened it, they could see that it was made with high quality paper and the words were in red.

But it was what she read on the first page that left them all speechless. In big bold writing on the first page were the words '_Earth Elementals_', with an odd symbol under it that looked like one big circle with a second smaller circle inside it and a vertical line running through the middle of both circles. Underneath that was Naruto's name, declaring him as the author. She started flipping through the pages, stopping on random pages for a moment before moving on to another. They all had the same red writing and on a few of the pages were what looked like charcoal sketches of people in different poses, surrounded by floating pieces of earth. All of the book looked like it had all been drawn and written by a professional.

Looking up at the whiskered teen that was grinning at her with teary eyes, it took Terra a moment to remember how to talk. Even then, all she could do was say one word.

"How?"

"Like I said, I'm a collector. You'd be surprised what you can find in books, especially old ones. I simply took what I found and put it into one book. If you turn to the next page, there's an index."

Quickly doing as she was told, Terra turned to the page with a shaky hand. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she looked at the names of the chapters.

_Chapter 1- What is an Elemental?_

_Chapter 2- What is an Earth Elemental?_

_Chapter 3- History of Earth Elementals_

_Chapter 4- Understanding the Earth Element_

_Chapter 5- How to Channel Your Energy_

_Chapter 6- How You're Emotional State Can Affect Your Control_

_Chapter 7- What Are the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Earth Element_

_Chapter 8- Introduction into Earth Manipulation_

_Chapter 9- Level 1 Earth Manipulation _

_Chapter 10- Level 2 Earth Manipulation_

_Chapter 11- Level 3 Earth Manipulation_

_Chapter 12- Advanced Earth Manipulation_

_Chapter 13- How to fight with the Earth Element_

_Chapter 14- How to defend with the Earth Element_

_Chapter 15- Creative Uses for the Earth Element_

_Chapter 16- Other Useful Facts That You Will Need to Know_

With tears now falling freely down her face, Terra sent Naruto a large shaky smile as she hugged the book to her chest. Walking over a placing a hand on her should, he gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I only wish I could have given it to you sooner."

"...Thank you"

After that, Starfire and Beast Boy took Terra back to the bed she had been using in the sickbay, still hugging the book to her chest. When they left the room, the atmosphere seemed to shift drastically. Motioning for Naruto to take a seat, Robin leaned forward and laced his fingers together in front of him as he stared at the blonde. Cyborg and Raven stood on either side of him. Naruto took note of the fact they both looked uncomfortable, even though they were trying to hide it, and that brought a small smirk to his lips. Locking eyes with the masked boy sitting across from him, the whiskered teen nodded his head for him to begin, knowing exactly what this was about.

"Where did you get all that information? The spell to help Terra, the book, all of it. Raven's been looking for this stuff for months and couldn't find anything. You did it in two weeks."

Giving the three another one of his charming smiles, Naruto leaned back in his seat, completely at ease.

"Maybe she just wasn't looking in the right places"

Frowning at the answer, Robin let out a small growl of frustration.

"This isn't a game"

"Then stop acting like it is and think. You're a smart guy Robin-san. Use that brain of your and_think_."

Just like the last time it happened, the three were left completely stunned by the way the blonde's moods seemed to change in an instant. Not giving them a chance to talk, Naruto pressed on.

"As I'm sure you know, knowledge is power and books are nothing more than knowledge written down on paper, for all to see. But what if, in some cases, a book can literally hold power. Imagine being able to reshape the very world around you with nothing more than a few words, written down in a book. I've spent the last three years of my life collecting those very books. and hiding them away from the world."

"Then why did you give the spell to Raven? It's not exactly a secret what happened in that cave with Terra. You could have found it without too much trouble. So, why come to us?"

Shaking his head at the question, Naruto just laughed.

"Do you know what makes me the best person to have all those books? All that power? Power corrupts; it's a fact of life. So what would make someone the perfect candidate? To have all that power, yet not be corrupted by it?"

Getting a confused expression on his face from the odd question, Robin's thoughts were interrupted by Raven.

"You can't use magic."

Smiling at the girl, Naruto nodded his head.

"Exactly! I'm the perfect candidate because I can't use any of that knowledge. I can't be corrupted by power that is unavailable to me."

"Then why risk giving us that spell, or Terra that book? There was nothing in it for you and you risked a lot by giving it to us."

"My reasons for helping that girl are my own. As for the book, she had a right to that knowledge. She should have been given it at an early age and, because she didn't, Terra had to go through a lot of hardships. Giving her that book is my way of helping her."

Stepping forward, Cyborg asked something that had been bothering him.

"If these books are as dangerous as you say, why not destroy them?"

"I can't."

Seeing the confused looks on their faces, the blonde smiled.

"Books as old and powerful as the ones I'm talking about are different from normal books. They've existed for so long, and hold so much power, that they _need_ to exist. If I were to destroy any of them, they would simple reform somewhere else in the world, as good as new. Then, there are some that have developed self awareness. They can get into your head and force you to use them. In the end, it's better to just keep them locked away, far from the rest of the world, where they can't be found."

Staring at the blonde sitting across from him for a long moment, Robin had one last question for him.

"Just who are you?"

The only response he got was an almost predatory grin spreading across the Naruto's whiskered face, showing his fang like canines.

XXX

**Beta'd by Sihv**

XXX

**Just a few things I want to get straight now before people start asking. Naruto will only be paired with Raven; Terra will be nothing more than a sister to him. Also, though it may seem like it at the moment, Terra and Beast Boy will also not be a pairing but I will go more into the details of that in later chapters.**

**I've got something special for you in the next chapter, some surprise guests that I know none of you will guess so keep reading to find out who they are. XD**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)**

**R&R :)**

**P.S this is the longest chapter I have ever written, XD**

**P.P.S Bucket hats are still awesome, DON'T DIS THE HAT!**

**3) If you ever see a group of break-dancing bunnies, tell them I want my socks back! My feet are fucking cold!**


	4. Unexpected

**Sorry about all the mistakes in the last chapter, I tried to get as many as I could.**

**Now that I have permission from 26-Lord-Pain to use some of his ideas I know what direction I can take this story. I originally got the idea for this fic from reading his RedXRaising and because of that a few of the sense I had planned out were based off of a few of his. They aren't exactly the same but there were enough similarities that I wanted to get his permission before I went any further.**

**I know have a Beta reader for this story, a big thanks to Sihv for offering to Beta XD**

**Enjoy :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing :(**

XXX

Chapter 4- Unexpected

It was another week before Terra was back to full strength, through she was still a little weak and she had to be put on a special diet that Naruto had given then to help her gain weight. He had just written it down on a piece of paper the day he had given her the book before leaving. The fact that he seemed to have memorised a diet for severely underweight teens had sent several alarms off in Robins head but he couldn't for the life of him figure out way.

Ever since the blonde had given her the book Terra had been reading almost none stop, sleeping with it held to her chest and never letting it out of her sight as if she were afraid it would disappear. They could all understand why. For Terra that book was a way for her to control her powers and even learn why she had them in the first place.

She had spent years wondering around deserts trying to figure out how to control her abilities, staying as far away from civilisation as possible in fear of hurting people, but with the book that would all change. The information Naruto had found not only explained how to control it, but also the best ways to use it.

Unfortunately she hadn't started training yet, Naruto having told her to wait until her body was healthy enough to handle the strain or she might end up back in a hospital bed. But not even having to wait could not put a damper on Terra's sprit and she had agreed without much complaint.

Ever since Robin had called him the week before Naruto had made a habit of stopping by whenever he had time to spear, as long as the Titans weren't off fighting crime. He would spend a few hours talking to Raven, normally in the privacy of her room, before hanging out in the common room with the rest of them.

It had been driving both Robin and Cyborg mad trying to figure out how he was able to get to the island that Titan Tower had been built on without ever being picked up by their security systems. At first it had been a bit of a blow to the mechanical teen's pride that the blonde seemed to be able to get passed anything he set up but after a while he started to think of it as a challenge instead.

Unfortunately all it did to Robin was prove he was hiding more then he had told them and to the masked teen that was dangerous. Naruto was an unknown element; something unplanned and unprepared for that he had next to no knowledge about. To him something like that was scary, it scared him that there was an unknown hanging around him and his friends.

XXX

As he sat at his desk, the glow from his computer screen being the only source of light in the otherwise dark room, Robin frowned at what he was seeing. Despite his promise to Raven that he wouldn't the boy wonder had done a background check on Naruto and the information he had found made him more worried. It was all there, Birth certificate, School records, past living address, all the information that you would expect to see. But he had spent years with Bruce, learning to tell fakes from the real thing and even though they were good he could tell they were all fakes.

Whoever he had gotten them from was a professional and knew what they were doing, but they had made several mistakes, a few holes in the history that should have been covered, a misspelled word here or there that wouldn't have been present in an official document, all little things that added up into one big thing.

The problem was that even through he new something wasn't right with the blonde there was nothing he could do about it.

First was the fact he had helped Terra, something none of them had been able to do. Second was his relationship with Raven, even if they both denied they were dating the masked teen could see what was going on and knew it was only a matter of time before they were. And third was the fact he wasn't sure he wanted to.

Despite his best efforts to keep his distance from him Robin had found himself drawn to Naruto like the others were. There was just something about him that made you want to trust him, made you want to be his friend. It wasn't something that could be explained but it was there. He knew there was more to the blonde then he let on, him admitting that he was collecting dangerous books to keep them out of the wrong hands was only the tip of the iceberg.

In the end he decided to put all the information he had found on Naruto, including his suspicions on the fake documents, and sent them to Bruce in an email asking him to do him a favour. He was too close to the situation and a fresh, unbiased set of eyes could be just the thing that was needed.

Letting out a tired sigh Robin turned his computer off and moved to lay on his bed, still in his costume and staying above the covers. He would worry about what to do about Naruto later.

XXX

Naruto was walking through the bookshelves of his store with a content look on his face, his arms full of books as he took his time placing them in the appropriate section. He love doing this, just spending time in his store, doing normal things without having to worry about someone trying to stab him in the back at any minute. He would never have been able to do something like this back in Konoha that's for sure. Even if it wasn't burned to the ground the day it opened no one would buy anything from the 'Demon'.

Just one more thing that proved he had made the right choice when he left.

It was a slow day, only a handful of people coming into the store to browse through the books on the shelves and none of them were there to look at his privet collection so he had enough time to restock the shelves while it wasn't busy. He was a little surprised to see Cyborg walking through the door. From what Naruto could tell the mechanical teen was alone, none of the other Titans being with him and the moment he saw the blonde a large grin spread across his face and he made his way straight over to him.

"Just the guy I was looking for"

Raising an eyebrow at the larger teen Naruto gave him a small smile.

"I doubt it was hard to find me, you know the only days I take off are Wednesdays and Mondays and today is Saturday."

Grin still in place Cyborg let out a sheepish chuckle and rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

Letting out a small chuckle and turning to the shelf in front of him the blonde teen went back stocking the shelves. For a few minutes nether of them said anything, Naruto just walking around with his arms full of books and stopping at seemingly random places to put a book on a shelf. Cyborg just followed him, obviously wanting to say something but not sure of how to start until he let out a sigh and just said it.

"Are you doing anything Friday night at 9?"

Stopping mid-step, the books in his hands almost dropping to the floor from his surprise, Naruto turned to his fellow teen with wide eyes.

"Not that I'm not flattered, but I don't bend that way"

"What... NO! That's not... I'm not... that's not what I meant! It's Robin's birthday on Friday and we're throwing him a surprise party at Pizza Corner, I was asking you to come for Raven."

"Oh! That makes a little more sense. But if it's Traffic light- san's birthday why are you asking me to come for Raven-chan?"

As they were talking Naruto made his way to the counter to deal with a customer.

"She isn't exactly the most social of people you know? We just thought that if you were there maybe she would have more fun."

After taking a moment to think about what Cyborg had said the blonde nodded his head and smile.

"Ok I see where you're coming from, I'll be there."

After that Cyborg left, saying something about needing to get back to help the others plan. Shaking his head Naruto went back to restocking the shelves, or he would have if not for the person he saw waling through the door out of the corner of his eye and this time he did drop the books in his arms, letting out a small gasp.

The boy that was standing in the open doorway had short red hair, pale skin that was so white it looked unhealthy and stood with his back straight and his arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing a thick brown leather coat that ended just above his knees, dark blue jeans that looked a little too worn and had the bottoms tucked into a pair of bulky brown boots. He had on a pair of brown leather fingerless and a burgundy scarf wrapped around his neck and a pair of black tinted goggles on his forehead.

He was drawing a lot of attention because of his warm clothes when it was over 30 degrees outside yet he didn't even look like he was sweating.

But the two things that stood out the most were the dark rings around his eyes and the scar on the left side of his forehead in the shape of the Kanji for 'Love'

"...Gaara?"

His red haired friend just stared at him with a blank expression, though he could see the way the corner of his lips twitched slightly.

After he got over his initial Naruto quickly made his way around the store apologising to the few people that were still looking around and saying that he had to close early for the day. When it was only the two of them Naruto locked the door and without a word lead Gaara to his fake home behind the store. When they walked into the living room Gaara moved straight to the couch and sat down, watching as Naruto started to pace the room in front of him with a serious look on his face.

"You shouldn't be here, how is it possible that your here"

Raising a none-existent eyebrow the red headed Sand-nin locked eyes with his friend.

"I was hoping you would be able to tell me that. 3 years ago I was sent to deliver a scroll to Konoha. While I was walking through the forest I senesced a group of chakra signatures and decided to investigate and when I arrived to at the point they had stopped I had just enough time to see you and a group of other Leaf-nin before I blacked out. I woke up in a desert not far away from this city and I've spent the last 3 years trying to find you. Now that I found you I'm not surprised it took me so long, a book store is the last place I would have expected."

Taking a moment to digest what he was told and choosing to ignore the comment at the end, Naruto let out a breath and sat next to Gaara, slouching down and running a hand over his face and told his friend what had lead to him being chased by Leaf-nin, though he did leave out certain details like his voices.

"I'm so sorry Gaara, it was only supposed to take me to the toad mountain but I made a mistake. I can't even send you back even if I did know how, summons don't work here for some reason."

They sat in silence for several minutes, Naruto not looking at the red head and Gaara just starring at the blonde with his usual blank expression. After a while Gaara placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and let a small smile cross his lips.

"I don't blame you, if anything I should be thanking you. The only people in the Elemental Nations that would miss me are Temari and Kankuro. Without me dragging them down they will be much happier. My village would never have accepted me after all the blood stained on my hands and this new world is like a second chance, for both of us."

Giving his friend a sad smile Naruto nodded his head before getting a curios look on his face.

"If you've been looking for me for the last 3 years how have you survived? From your clothes I assume you at least know the langue."

Looking down at himself for a moment Gaara let another small smile spread across his face.

"Indeed, I learned from several books and after that found someone that could make the necessary documents that needed in this world. I stole these clothes and have been living in the desert. I was only able to find you because I saw you with that group walking into a cave and I followed you here, I was waiting to make sure it was you before I approached."

Nodding his head again, at least that explained why Gaara was wearing all the think clothes. It could get quite cold in the desert at night. He could also tell that the red head didn't spend as much time around people as he himself did from the think accent he had when speaking English.

"Well we can't have that, you can stay with me from now on, it's better them living in the desert and I could use the company."

Standing up and looking around the room Gaara looked back at Naruto.

"It's a little small for two"

Patting the red head on the back with a large smile on his face, Naruto lead him out of the room and to the wall at the end of the hallway.

XXX

When Thursday came around Raven and the other Titans were getting worried. The last time any of them had seen Naruto was when Cyborg had invited him to Robin's birthday party. They had all gotten used to his presence and the fact he hadn't been seen for a few days was getting to them all, especially considering what had happened the last time he had gone off the radar.

It was for this reason that found Raven, Starfire, Beastboy and Terra walking into the blonde teen's store, expecting to find him walking around with his arms full of books and a smile on his face. What they weren't expecting was for a strange red head in a thick leather coat that didn't look right on someone for this time of year.

He had his back turned to them at first but turned to look the moment he bell above the door was heard showing them his dark ringed eyes and scar on his forehead and the books in his arms. He didn't have any expression on his face as he starred at them, just stood waiting for them to talk.

Stepping forward with a confused look on her face Raven took a moment to look at him more carefully, particularly the scar.

"Erm, sorry but is Naruto in?"

He just kept starring at them for a moment, his eyes shifting from one to the next with cold calculating eyes and they were a little surprised when he didn't even bat an eye at Beastboy. When he was done sizing them up the red headed nodded and gestured with his head for them to follow him to the balcony without actually saying anything.

He led them to the back of the balcony to the table Raven would normally sit at when reading one of Naruto's books to find said blonde sat with his nose in a book that looked just as old as the others in his collection. He was wearing a pair of rubber gloves and set in the table next to him were several bottles of fouls smelling chemicals, paint brushes and what looked like a sowing kit.

He had is back turned to them as they approached but as soon as they were in ear shot he turned to looked at them and smiled, nodded to the red headed teen leading them an turned back to the book.

"Good to see you guy, I see you've met Gaara."

Casting a look towards the strange boy out of the corner of her eye Raven moved to stand right behind the blonde with the others not a step behind her.

"We came to check on you, the last time you disappeared for a few days you turned up at the tower in the middle of the night looking like you had been in a hole for two weeks and dug your way out,"

Nodding his head absentmindedly without stopping in his work Naruto looked at the grey skinned girl out of the corner of his eye.

"Sorry to worry you, I've been a little busy what with Gaara and this book; I haven't had time to visit."

Looking to the now identified Gaara with a confused expression on his green face, Beastboy walked over to stand next to the boy and smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Gaara, that's a strange name."

"It means 'A Demon That Only Loves Himself'. It was the name my mother gave me moments before she died."

They all looked at the boy with shocked expressions on their faces at the way he just said that without showing any emotion at all, like it was an automatic response that he was so used to giving he didn't even care who he told anymore.

Putting down the brush in hi hand and letting out a sigh Naruto turned to look at Gaara with an exasperated look.

"Gaara we've been over this, you don't need to tell people something just because they ask."

After thinking for a moment the red headed teen nodded his head and turned back to the others.

"I apologise if I have made you uncomfortable."

After he said that the red headed teen turned and walked back down the stairs without even waiting for an answer, causing Naruto to let out another sigh.

"Sorry about him, he doesn't mean to be rude. Gaara's not had the happiest of lives and doesn't spend much time around people."

Nodding their heads in understanding Beastboy moved to stand next to Naruto with a slightly confused look on his face as he looked back in the direction that Gaara had gone.

"Just who is that guy anyway dude, for some reason I get the feeling I should run whenever he so much as looks at me."

"Gaara's an old friend, turns out he's lived in the area for just as long as I have but we never ran into each other until the other day. I invited him to stay with me and I'm paying him to help out in the store."

Floating over so that she was hovering in the air just on the other side of the balcony Starfire looked down at the red headed teen with large innocent eyes as he went from one shelf to the next just like Naruto always would, Beastboy and Terra joining the alien princess in her observation.

Shaking her head at the three, Raven turned back to Naruto, who had returned his attention to the book in front of him while she hadn't been looking, and took the empty seat next to him.

"So how much did you pay for this one?"

Without looking up from his work the blonde teen smiled.

"I didn't, I'm repairing it for a contact of mine, I scratch their back and all that crap. They asked me to see what I could do. When I'm finished it should be somewhere in the prise range of 13 to 15 thousand."

"I didn't know you repaired books as well as collect them."

"What, you think I'd tell you everything about me straight away? If I did that how could I keep a cute girl like yourself interested? A little mystery does wonders for a relationship."

It took several minutes for the grey skinned teen to recover from her blush and when she did her eyes fell on the book. The pages really did look worn, with the ink fading and several rips in random places. She just sat and watched as Naruto worked, using the different equipment set on the table with practiced ease.

It was while she watched him that Raven heard the front door being banged open, followed by loud footsteps and a familiar voice shouting to be lead to 'the blonde idiot'. Moments later Gaara lead a red faced Mister Gold along with 5 thugs, up the stairs, his face as expressionless as even through one of the men was holding a gun to the back f his head.

The moment they saw Raven and her friends the other men pulled out their own guns and aimed them at each of them while Mister Gold walked to Naruto, who had barely speared the man and his thugs a glance, pulled out his own gun and slammed it into the back of the blondes head.

"Get my fucking books now, if you don't I'll have my men kill all the people here. I've had enough games."

Looking at each of the thugs one after the other Raven found her eyes locked with her green skinned friend and after casting one last look around shuck her head just enough for him to see. With this many guns pointed at different people she would need to speak in order to cast the spell she needed and if she tried they would probably shoot before she could finish, or one of the guns would go off by accident.

Standing slowly while rubbing the back of his head where the now smirking man had hit him with his gun, Naruto took a moment to look at all the people in the room before his eye landed on Gaara.

"You mind?"

"Not at all"

Everyone looked at the two boys for a moment with confusion clear on their faces but before anyone could ask what they were talking about the red headed teen in the thick leather coat uncrossed his arms and let them hang loosely at his side, for a moment nothing happened except the thug holding Gaara at gunpoint sifting his stance and held it with both hands. Then without warning sand exploded out of his sleeves and the bottom of his coat, spreading out across the whole room and left them all blind for a moment until it settled.

When they could all see again Raven, Beastboy, Starfire and Terra were left speechless.

Floating in the air above their head upside-down were the 5 thugs and Mr Gold trapped in cocoons of sand, their faces slowly turning red from the blood rushing to their heads. They all had sand covering their mouths so that they couldn't make a sound but they could all see from the wide bloodshot eyes that they were screaming inside.

Walking over to stand next to the red headed teen, Naruto patted him on the shoulder with a smile before nodding his head towards the door and without a word Gaara slowly made his way to the front door and used his sand to throw the 6 men out onto the street before making his way back to the still stunned group.

Terra was the first to brake out of her shock and quickly ran up to Gaara, who had just finished collection his sand back into his coat, with a wide grin and stars in her eyes.

"You're an Earth Elemental to? This is so great; we have so much to talk about. How did you control the sand, I can't do that is it like a more advanced control thing?"

All she got in reply was a blank stare.

Chuckling to himself Naruto walked up behind his fellow blonde and rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Sorry to disappoint you Terra-san but Gaara isn't an Elemental. His ability is control over sand, not the earth."

Seeing the sad look on her face Naruto had a mischievous smirk cross his lips.

"Though to be honest your abilities are similar, maybe he could help you with your training. What do you think Gaara, want to help a cute girl with her powers, share your wisdom?"

The look of absolute hope that was now on Terra's face as she looked at the sand user was enough to made even Gaara crack, who knew that the Puppy Eye Jutsu could be used by girls in both worlds on pure instinct alone.

Sending his blonde friend a small frown Gaara thought for a moment before nodding his head.

"Inform me when you are ready and I will see what I can do."

Without waiting for an answer the red headed teen turned his back to the group and made his way back down the stairs to finish what he had been doing before Mr Gold had showed up.

Shaking his head with another small smile Naruto looked back to the teens on the balcony with him and was met with four faces full of questions. Letting out a sigh as he walked back to the table with the book he was working on restoring Naruto got back to work and just as they were about to bombard him with questions he spoke.

"I've known Gaara for around 5 years, give or take a few mouths; he was from a neighbouring village. He, his brother and his sister came to my village for an even and that's when we met. He's been able to control sand ever since he was born and because of it his life hasn't been easy. That's all I'll say on the matter, the rest is for him to tell."

Nodding their heads in understanding the four teens said their goodbyes to both Naruto and Gaara and left, inviting the sand user to Robin's party on their way out.

XXX

Later that night after they had locked up the store both Naruto and Gaara were stood in one of the training grounds that the blonde and his clothes had added the night Gaara had first moved in. It was basically a large circular room with seals pained into the roof for light and a lot of sand that he had had a clone bring using a sealing scroll to transport it. It still amazed him no one had noticed the large hole the clone had left in the middle of the desert.

The reason they were here was because the sand help to calm Gaara, who had been having trouble staying in control of his... darker, urges even since what had happened with Gold and his thugs earlier in the day.

The sand user could still here the one tail in his head, whispering in his ear and trying to get him to go on a killing spree. Naruto had been trying to find a way to strengthen his friends seal but there were a lot of scrolls about seals in his library and he was yet to find anything that could help.

The blonde teen watched from the side of the room as Gaara sat with his legs crossed in the centre, arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed as he made the sand spin around him so it looked like he was in the middle of a sandstorm with long tendrils flailing around outside the cyclone in seemingly random patterns.

After he had done this for an hour straight Gaara let the sand settle and slowly stood, wiping of grains of sand and walked over to lean against the wall next to his friend.

"Have your clones finished the room yet?"

"About half an hour ago"

"You realise that if you're wrong about this it could be a disaster?"

Smiling to his friend with the brim of his hat covering his eyes Naruto moved to the door without answering him, Gaara following a moment later. He led the red headed sand user to the corridor that had the bedrooms and stopped at one that stood out from the rest.

Instead of an oak door like the others that lined the walls it was made out of thick steel, with large blots around the edges and five different locks hat could only be undone from the outside. When he opened the door it was to reveal a normal looking room with a large king sized bed, dresser and a desk. The walls, ceiling and floor were covered in seals that to Gaara meant nothing.

Turning to look at the blonde stood next to the door Naruto saw the rear emotion that was being shown on his face.

Fear

He might not have found a way to fix the seal on Gaara's stomach yet but he had found a way to let him sleep, at least he hoped he did. The seals were designed to absorb the Shukaku's demonic chakra if it reached a certain level an would purify it into nature chakra. The theory was that when Shukaku tried to flood Gaara's coils with its tainted chakra to gain control the seals would suck it out fast enough to stop it from gaining control. They were lucky the one tails was the weakest of the tailed beasts because Naruto wouldn't have been able to do something like this for anything above the three tails, and that was a stretch.

Te reason Gaara was scared was because if he was only slightly off with his calculations then Shukaku would be released and with them being in such a large city thousand could die.

Giving the teen one last smile Naruto closed the door.

XXX

The next morning Naruto was stood outside the steel door with a satisfied expression on his face as he took note of the undamaged door. Letting out a sigh of relief he took a step towards the door and knocked three times. After waiting for 2 minutes he got a reply in the form of three knocks.

Smiling to himself Naruto quickly unlocked all the doors and swung it open to find Gaara, actually smiling at him. It was surprising just how much difference one night of sleep made, his skin looked a few shades healthier with a bit of colure in his cheeks, the rings around his eyes had faded slightly and his face looked less stiff. The fact that he was openly smiling at him surprised Naruto.

"I take it you slept well?"

"Indeed"

"Good"

Without another word Naruto made his way to the kitchen to make them both breakfast, the smile on his face never leaving his lips.

XXX

That night Naruto and Gaara were making their way down the street to the Pizza Corner. The sun was just starting to get low in the sky and they could already hear the music from the party echoing around the almost empty streets.

Naruto was dressed in a long sleeved red t-shirt with a white shirt over the top left unbuttoned, dark blue jeans and his usual fingerless gloves and bucket hat. Under his left arm was a tube shaped object wrapped in green paper with the words 'Happy Birthday' printed all over it and in his other hand was a box that stretched to about 7 feet long but only a few inches wide wrapped in the same paper.

Despite Naruto's best efforts to change his mind Gaara had refused to change, not feeling comfortable without the thick leather coat he used to hide his sand, and had decided to go to the party in his normal clothes.

Thinking back to the red headed teen's reaction when he had explained what a party was brought a smile to Naruto's face, his friend never having heard of a party before and shocked that someone would actually invite him to one.

As they turned a corner the Pizza Corner that Cyborg had told him about came into view, a quaint two story building with a small balcony on the second floor and a patio with several tables set up on the outside. They could see all the other teens that had been invited to the party, along with what Naruto was sure were a few that weren't, through the windows and could see most of them were dancing to the loud music.

They had no trouble getting in, though they did have a little problem getting through the crowd, and started to look for any sign of the Titans in the mass of moving bodies. Gaara had been drawing a lot of attention because his odd chose of clothing but nobody really cared, having too much fun to worry about one strange boy. Between the loud music, flashing multicoloured lights and dancing teens all around them it took the two ex-ninja half an hour before they were able to find Cyborg, and they were only able to find him because of his size and the fact he had burped louder then the music.

"Hey Tin-san, I see your enjoying yourself"

"Naruto, hey man how you been, not seen you for a while"

"Not bad, let me introduce my friend, Cyborg-san, Gaara, Gaara, Cyborg-san."

"So your the one Terra wouldn't stop talking about, nice to meet you"

The only reply he got was a small nod.

After the introductions were finished the mechanical teen led the two up the stairs to the second floor were it was a lot less crowed. Unlike the downstairs where all the teens had been dancing the room at on the second floor had tables set around the edge for people to sit and talk. They could still here the music from the lower floor and a few people were dancing but nowhere near as many, though Naruto did see Starfire floating above the heads of people, twirling around with a large smile on her face.

They found Robin sat at a table with Raven and Terra not far from the balcony, a pile of presents stacked on the table. Naruto was trying not to laugh; Robin was wearing a smart black suit with a white shirt and bowtie, and his mask. He wore his mask to his birthday party.

"Traffic-light-san, happy birthday"

"MY NAMES NOT TRAFFIC LIGHT!"

Smiling to himself at getting a reaction out of the boy, Naruto slide into the seat next to Raven and put his arm around her shoulders, his smile turning into a grin when he saw the red spreading across her grey skin. At least until she punched him in the ribs, winding the blonde and forcing him to pull his arm away.

"You're so cold Raven-chan"

Shaking his head at the two's antics, Robin turned his attention to the red headed boy that had come with the blonde, taking note of the strange scar on his forehead and odd choice of clothes. Standing up and walking over to the Gaara the masked teen offered his hand.

"You must be Gaara; Terra hasn't stopped talking about you since yesterday."

For a moment the sand user just looked at the offered hand with a blank expression, seeming unsure what to do before slowly, with slight hesitation, he brought his own hand up and shuck. Robin took note of the way he didn't put any presser into the shake and just let Robin control the handshake.

It was at this point that Naruto saw something out of the corner of his eye and a deep frown spread across his lips before he stood from his seat and put on a fake smile.

"I'll be right back, Gaara you stay here and try to be social."

Without waiting for a response he walked off in towards a table at the other end of the room where Beastboy was sat with a few people they didn't recognise.

Shrugging his shoulders Robin went back to his seat and offered Gaara the one next to him so they could talk.

"So Raven and Terra told me you have control over sand? That an impressive power, have you ever considered become apart of a team?"

"No"

"Why not, we could use someone like you."

"I have my reasons, one of which is I have no right to protect people with the things I have done in the passed."

Before the masked teen could push for more detail he was interrupted by Raven, who decided to try and learn more about Naruto through his quite red headed friend.

"So how do you know Naruto, he said you were from a neighbouring village and came to his with your family."

"My older brother Kankuro and older sister Temari"

They way he talked without any emotion was a little off putting for the three teens, his face didn't even twitch.

".. So how did you become friends?"

"He saved me"

"From what?"

"Before I met Uzumaki-san I was trapped in a darkness of my own creation, unable to se anything but an endless void."

Realization came to Terra's face, thinking about how she had been depressed before she met the Titans because of the way people treated her and from what Naruto had said the day before thought that maybe Gaara had been through the same thing.

"So you were depressed?"

"No, homicidal, the first time I met Uzumaki I almost killed him."

At his words Robin, who had just been taking a drink from his glass on the table, coughed with his mouth full of water and spite it out all over the floor in shock.

"What did you say?"

XXX

Naruto had known he moment Gaara explained how he had arrived in this world that the other must have come too, they had been closer to him when the Jutsu had gone wrong after all so it only made sense that they would have been dragged along with him. But even knowing that he wasn't expecting to run into them so soon after Gaara had turned up on his door step.

As he made his way across the room to the three girls sat at a table with Beastboy he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the fact they were wearing grey school uniforms with small skirts and red ties, though he took note they each had their Konoha headbands tied around their wastes like belt.

Letting a smirk cross his face as he closed the distance the blonde made a note of the fact Beastboy seemed to be trying to flirt with the blonde haired girl sat next to him with little success and made a note to tech him a few things later. Next to her was a girl with bright pink hair and green eye that was looking at the green teen with slight amusement in her eyes mixed with an odd nostalgia and sat on the end was a girl with a shy look on her face and dark blue, almost black hair and eyes that looked milky white.

In other words Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga, three of the last people he wanted to see.

Deciding to just get it over with he sat down next to Hinata, his hat casting a shadow over his eyes slightly and a large grin on his face. The moment their eyes fell on him they all let out a gasp and every muscle in their bodies tensed in preparation to fight if the need should arises.

"Well look what the cat dragged in. I must admit I didn't expect to see you three again anytime soon, or at all for that matter."

Getting a confused look on his face from the blonde's words and the reaction the girls seemed to have to him, Beastboy looked from the still smirking Naruto to the tense girls. The girl with the pink hair, Sakura if he remembered right, had actually stopped her hand halfway to her mouth with a glass in her hand.

"Oh hey Naruto... you guys know each other or something"

"You could say that, hey Beast-san why don't you go and find Cyborg -san, I think he said something about a burping contest downstairs. I need to talk to these three for a while."

Casting one last look at the three girls the green teen gave a hesitant nod and got up from his seat.

"Yeh sure thing man, I'll see you later."

The moment Beastboy was out of earshot Naruto let out a sigh.

"Poor guy, he's been a bit depressed since Terra-san told him she only thinks of him as a friend. I need to remember to give him a few tips on how to talk to girls. Reminds me of how I use to act."

Turning his attention back to the three girls sat at the table and noticing they were still stiff; through he took note of the dark blush on Hinata's face, and let out a small chuckle.

"Relax; I'm not going to do anything unless you start it. Were at a party, enjoy yourselves."

Sakura quickly shifted her eyes to Ino before locking them with the blonde. After taking a moment to take in his new appearance, including the way she could now see his lean muscular frame that wasn't covered by his hideous baggy kill-me-orange jacket and simple yet expensive looking clothes, the pink haired put her glass down with a frown on her face.

"What are you doing here Naruto?"

Raising an eyebrow at her cold tone, though the smirk never left his lips, the blonde ex-ninja tilted his head up just enough to let them see his eye from under the brim of his hat.

"Like I said it's a party, I was _invited_."

The smirk still hadn't left Naruto's face and it was starting to worry the girls that he was being so calm, they were still trying to catch him after all. But everything about the blonde teen in front of them screamed confidence, the smirk, the look in his eyes, even his relaxed posture were yelling out that he wasn't the least bit worried by their presence. He had always been confident, overly so, but now it didn't seem forced like it used to be.

"You need to come back with us, it's been three years Naruto-baka, you've had your fun and now it's time to return to Konoha."

The smirk only grow at the pinket's words and even with the hat shadowing the top part of his face the three kunoichi could tell he had raised one of his eyebrows at her in amusement.

"Do you even know why I left, or care... no of course not, why would you, it's not like any of you care. You have your orders to bring me back and that's all that matters, right?"

"What the hell happened to you Naruto; this doesn't sound anything like you."

Fixing his eyes on Ino, the whiskered teen folded his arms behind his head and leaned back in his seat.

"I thought the scarecrow would have told you by now, I basically told him that night three years ago, I must have given him too much credit."

Sighing to himself Naruto stood from his seat and, chuckling slightly at the way the three kunoichi stiffened at his sudden movement, started to head back to the table he had left Gaara and the others, throwing one last comment over his shoulder.

"You should stay and enjoy the party, have a few drinks, dance, have some fun. I've created a life for myself here that I never could back in Konoha and have no intention of giving it up."

Turning away from the three kunoichi, Naruto didn't see Ino making a hand sigh and aiming it in his direction.

XXX

**Hope you liked this chapter :)**

**I couldn't not have Gaara in this fic.**

**R&R**

**P.S. I am found the bunnies, the problem is that when I tried to get my socks back I ended up losing my Bucket hat, stupid poker. Now both my head and feet are cold :(**


	5. Love and Hate

**First thing I have to say is thank you all for your reviews, there all great :)**

**Unfortunately my Beta is busy with school so is not able to Beta for this fic for a while so I am asking for a volunteer :)**

**For those of you that have read 'The True Horror of Konoha' you will recognise the mindscape, I like it better then the sewer :)**

**One more thing before you read this chapter; I have decided to get my revenge against the bunnies by eating all the carrots in the world MUHAHAHAHAHA, so far I'm up to 3... It is for this reason that I am asking you all to send me carrots in your reviews from now on; together we can stick it to those dame bunnies! I don't care what my shrink said they are not a figment of my imagination! :P**

**DEATH TO THE BUNNIES!**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

XXX

Chapter 5-Love and Hate

The first thing that crossed Ino's mind when she looked at her surroundings was that this was a BIG mistake.

The Jutsu had been a success, at least in part, and she was in Naruto's mind like she had planned. The problem was that instead of taking over his body, like she had meant to, Ino found herself in a place that made hr blood run cold. Her farther had told her what it meant when something like this happened and had warned her of the danger that came with it.

She was in Naruto's Mindscape, a somewhat physical manifestation of the mind that few people had. It took years for a person's mind to create one and normally, from what her farther had told her, they were basic at best, an open field or dark cave, something big but simple that didn't take much for the mind to create an image. The other thing that he had warned her about was that everything in a Mindscape, from the smallest flower in a field to the largest crack in a cave wall, was a reflection on the person that created it.

It was that thought that had her scared at the scene before her now.

Ino was stood in the middle of the main road of a scale replica of Konoha, with all the same buildings she and the others had grown up with. The problem with it was that the entire village was in ruins, the building creaked and some even fallen down all together, wild vines and weeds grow over everything in sight and off in the distance she could see what was left of the Hokage monument, most of which looked like it had been clawed off. It was as if thousands of years had passed and the village was collapsing in on itself. Above her head the sky was completely black, not a star in sight, and a large blood red moon, bathing the ruined village in its red glow.

Slowly making her way down the street the blonde kunoichi didn't even realise she was being followed. It were little more then a shadow, jumping from roof to roof, sneaking through the shadows, staying just at the edge of her blind spot and not making any sound at all.

Eventually Ino realised she wasn't alone and, turning quickly in an attempt to catch sight of her pursuer, was able to see a shadow flash across the street into a side ally for a moment before it disappeared.

Quickly running back to the end of the ally Ino stopped and peered into the darkness.

"Naruto, is that you? This isn't funny baka"

Suddenly the air around her grew thicker and it got harder and harder to breath. Terrible images started flashing through her head as her legs gave out beneath her. She saw all her friends lying on the ground around her, bleeding... dying. Then it switched to a fire, people screaming as it spread, then people dying from starvation, then disease.

Each flash brought a different image of death and without realising it the young Yamanaka started to scream. In all the images there was one other constant other then death, a small, shadowed figure with one blue and one red eye glowing through the darkness that seemed to cling to it like a second skin, hiding it from her view. She could see it in all the images, smiling at her, watching her as she fell apart.

From the darkness of the alley a figure could be seen walking slowly making its way towards the downed form of Ino, who was now curled up on the ground in the fetal position staring into space and muttering quietly to herself. As the figure stepped out of the shadows and into her line of sight her eyes widened.

Bending down so it could whisper in her ear with a small smile on its face, it spoke in an oddly childlike voice.

"I disagree, Yamanaka-san; I think this is _very_ funny"

XXX

As they watched Naruto making his way across the room Sakura and Hinata didn't miss the way he stumbled a moment after their blonde friend slumped in her seat and they both smiled. But when he turned to look at them over his shoulder with a smirk both frowned.

Turing confused eyes to the now conscious Ino both gasped when they saw her eyes role into the back of her head.

XXX

Gaara looked at the shocked faced of the three teens sat around him with a black face, slowly reached into his coat and pulled out a flask of water he kept on him at all times because he didn't trust other people not to try poisoning him. If he was one to show his emotions like Naruto the red headed sand user would probably be laughing at the shocked faces staring at him.

It took several minutes before Raven seemed to pull herself together enough to talk.

"What do you mean by almost killed him?"

Turning to look at the grey skinned teen, Gaara just looked at her for a moment before putting his flask away.

"I mean when we first met I attempted to kill him, and several of his friends in a fit of insanity."

Robin found his hand had been moving down towards his belt without realising it, only to remember he didn't have his utility belt. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear it the masked leader of the Titans narrowed his eyes at Gaara.

"Are you saying that you attempted to kill someone, is that what you meant when you said you didn't have a right to protect people because of your passed."

"Partly, mostly it's because of all the people I killed before I met Uzumaki-san."

Before they could ask anymore questions Naruto sat back in his seat next to Raven with a small smile that slipped off his face as he looked at the teens around him. Taking in both Raven and Robins stiff postures and Terra's pale face it didn't take him long to understand what had happened and he let out a sigh as he turned to his red headed friend.

"You told them about yourself didn't you?"

"Yes... is this another one of the things I need to learn to keep to myself?"

At the blondes nod Gaara seemed to think for a moment before turning to address the three teens.

"I apologise for making you uncomfortable"

Sighing at his friend again Naruto told him to go and wait for him on the balcony while he spoke to the others for a moment. Without saying a word the sand user stood and made his way out to the empty balcony.

Turning to the three still shell shocked teens sat with him Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"From your faces I can guess he was talking about before we met."

"He said he's killed people, and that he tried to kill you."

Closing his eyes and chuckling uncomfortably, the blonde ex-ninja gave Robin a weak smile.

"Look, long story short Gaara had a mental breakdown when he was five and started killing people as a way to prove to himself that he existed."

At their shocked faces Naruto nodded.

"He's spent years trying to get over what he did, but no matter how many times I try to reason with him that it wasn't his fault he still thinks himself a monster."

Getting up from his seat yet again Naruto silently made his way over to the balcony.

XXX

When he saw Gaara he wasn't surprised to find him stood at the railing of the balcony looking out over the city with a cigarette in his hand. Making his way to stand next to his friend Naruto leaned his back on the railing and raised his eyebrow.

"You got anymore? I ran out."

Catching the half empty packet that the red head threw at him without even looking in his direction Naruto smiled and, after looking around to make sure no one was watching, lit it by channelling fire chakra into his thumb. The result being a small flame lighting up at the end of his thumb.

It was a habit he had picked about a year after he arrived in this world; he had a clone henge into an older version of himself and ever since he had been hooked. It always made him laugh when someone took it upon themselves to remained him they would kill him one day because no matter how much he smoked his healing factor made it like he never smoked a day in his life.

Apparently Gaara just stole some by accident and like Naruto had been hooked.

Taking several deep breaths of the noxious flumes, neither of them spoke for a while, just enjoying the feeling of the smoke filling their lungs.

"Haruno, Yamanaka and Hyuuga were here"

"Is that why you left?"

"Yh... we spoke, I warned them to leave me alone and then Ino tried to use her Mind Transfer Jutsu on me when my back was turned."

"Foolish, she should have known better then to try that on a normal Jinjuriki, let alone someone like you. Which one found her first?"

"Wrath, but Lust stepped in before any permanent damage could be done."

"That's good; do they know I'm here?"

"No"

Falling into another comfortable silence the two Jinjuriki finished their cigarettes before Naruto leaned over and whispered something to Gaara, which the red head nodded to and made his way back inside leaving Naruto to light up another. After a moment of deep thought he chuckled lightly and without turning to face them addressed the person hid in the shadows.

"Did you hear all of that, Raven-chan?"

Realising that she had been found Raven stepped out of the shadow with a small blush on her face at being caught and, putting the fact that he shouldn't have been able to se her while in a shadow to the back of her mind for later thought, made her way over to stand next to the blonde and frowned slightly when she saw the cigarette between his lips.

"Those things will kill you."

The only response he gave her was a grin that seemed to scream she had missed something.

"So how much did you here?"

"... What's a Jinjuriki?"

"Now where would be the fun if I told you that? Like I said I need to keep a few things to myself or you'll get bored of me."

"... Fine, then who were the people you were talking about? And why would you need to tell them to leave you alone?"

"Just some old friends that I haven't seen for a while"

"It didn't sound like they were your friends."

"We didn't part on the best of terms."

After that they didn't say anything for a few minutes, they just stood on the balcony looking out over the city. When Naruto finished his cigarette he turned to the grey skinned teen with a smile.

"So... if I ask you to dance are you just going to hit me again?"

Turing her face away to hide the blush that found its way to her cheeks, Raven smiled for a moment before looking back at him with her usual stoic expression.

"I guess one dance couldn't hurt, assuming you can actually dance that is"

"Ooh, kitty has claws"

"Do you want a dance or not?"

In answer to her question Naruto grinned, grabbed her hand and pulled her back inside to where those that came upstairs were dancing in the middle of the room.

It was at this point that Raven noticed the song that was playing was and the blush once again spread across her face at realising it was a slow song. There was a grin on Naruto's face as he placed his hand on her waste, causing a table to their left to suddenly glow with a black aura and seemingly implode on itself, and leaned forward to rest his head on her shoulder, slowly swaying to the music and humming along.

"You can thank Gaara for the song"

"W-what?"

Chuckling quietly at the slight stutter in her voice Naruto elaborated.

"I asked him to request a few slow songs"

"...Sneaky"

"Thank you, I try"

They stayed like that for several minutes, moving with the music in each others arms. The smile never left Raven's face the whole time they were dancing. It felt nice, being in his arms, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Because of her powers Raven hadn't been able to do things like this growing up, what with them being affected by her emotions, so she had missed out on a lot of things other girls took for granted.

If only she knew how similar the blondes thoughts were to her own at that very moment. Because of the villagers turning the younger generation against him he didn't exactly have the best social life. In fact this was actually the first party he had ever been to.

All this, being in a different world, owning his own bookstore, Raven, it all didn't seem real at times. But right now, with her in his arms, it was real, _she_ was real. Here he was, slow dancing with a beautiful girl at a party.

Seeing the smile on his face, Raven grew confused by the odd look in his eyes, it was so intense a shiver went down her spine.

That was when it hit her.

They were the eyes of someone that had seen too much and couldn't believe what was happening around them. It was the same look Raven herself had before joining the Titans.

It was also at that moment that the conversation she had had with Terra came to the forefront of her mind.

XXX

_"What did it feel like? The light, I mean. You said it was like the sun, but what else?"_

_Closing her eye in thought, Terra frowned slightly at the memory._

_"I don't know how to explain it. Like I said, it was comforting, but that was what was being directed at me, like it was trying to make me feel better. It was so powerful, like nature itself was concentrated into one spot. I could feel it spreading warmth throughout my body. But... when I felt it in the cave, when it was so close..."_

_Trailing off, the teens started to panic when the earth user started to cry._

_"... It was so lonely, so sad. I think it was comforting me without realizing it, because it couldn't stand the idea of something else feeling anywhere close to how it felt. It held so much pain... I don't understand... how could something so sad and in so much pain feel so good to be around? When you freed me, I wasn't screaming because of being trapped. I was screaming for the light, for its pain."_

XXX

What if she had been right and Naruto really was in pain and just hiding it. The thought of the blonde hiding something like that didn't sit well with her. Sure he could be serious, and more then once he had even seemed a little scary, but not sad... never sad, she couldn't even picture what he would look like even if he was. Without realising it Raven pulled the taller boy closer to her, resting her head on his chest as they continued to dance to the music.

After another few minutes had passed Naruto pulled her away from the dance floor and lead her to an empty table. Sitting down with a huge smile on his face the blonde tilted his head towards the empty set next to him.

"So, what's your assessment? Can I dance or not?"

Taking the seat he had offered, Raven took on a thoughtful expression on her face before a small smirk graced her lips.

"You're ok... I guess."

"Ok...ok, how dare you say I'm only ok! I'll have you know there are many girls that love my dancing."

Trying not to laugh at the mortified look on the blondes face, Raven adapted a bored expression on her own face before answering.

"Then you should have asked one of them to dance."

They stared at each other for several minutes, neither saying anything. Then, unable to hold it back anymore, Naruto let a grin spread across his lips and laughed. After another few minutes he had calmed himself down and they fell into a comfortable silence.

Chuckling to himself, Naruto let a small smile cross his lips and sighed.

"So, you want to go see a movie sometime?"

The shocked look on Raven's face was possibly the funniest thing he had ever seen.

He had been thinking long and hard about him and Raven, along with a lot of other things, and after going over the good and the bad points had decided that it was worth it. He like Raven, she was beautiful, smart, and so many other things. He was in a new world, with people that know nothing about his past, why not_ live_.

Naruto's smile only grew when he saw the blush spreading across the grey skinned teen's cheeks.

"S-sure, that sounds great."

XXX

The moment they walked through the door into the warehouse carrying an unconscious Ino between them Sakura and Hinata were surrounded by the other Leaf-nin that had come with them to this world. After waving them off and moving Ino to a bed to lay down, they all gathered so the two girls could explain what had happened.

Not much had changed in the three years they ha been stranded in this world other then a few improvements to the warehouse.

After getting the necessary papers to live in this world they had started to raise money, Kakashi got a job as a taxi driver, it didn't pay much but it was good for information gathering, no one ever thought about the drive when they were talking. Sasuke, Shikamaru and Lee had opened a gym together after stealing enough money to buy a building and the equipment. Lee worked as a martial arts instructor while Sasuke was a personal trainer and Shikamaru handled the business.

Another thing that had changed was their clothes.

The silver haired Jonnin now wore a white button up shirt with blue jeans and a brown jacket. Over his left eye was a simple black eye patch and instead of the mask he used to ware to cover the bottom half of his face he now had a thick blue woollen scarf.

Lee now wore a dark green karate gi that had its sleeves cut ff at the elbow with white bandages wrapped around his ands and feet. Sasuke wore a dark red shirt, black jeans and a black leather jacket with the Uchiha clan symbol on he back. Last was Shikamaru, who now wore a grey T-shirt with a black jacket with the sleeves torn off at the shoulders and a pair of blue jeans with rips in the knees.

The one thing they all had in common was the Konoha headbands they used as belts.

They were all sat in what had been turned into the common room of the warehouse, consisting of two couches, an arm chair, a small coffee table a TV.

Leaning forward in the arm chair to look at the two kunoichi with his one visible eye, Kakashi spoke with a serious voice.

"What happened?"

Squeezing Sasuke's hand in hers, Sakura sighed.

"We saw Naruto"

For a moment nothing happened, it was completely silent. Then her words seemed to register in all their minds at the same time and they all started talking at once. Over the sound of all their voices overlapping Sasukes was the only one that could be heard clearly.

"Where is he? What happened? Did you talk to him? What did he say?"

After waiting for them all to calm down, Sakura continued, Hinata sat next to her on the couch with her head lowered, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"He was at the party we were invited to, the one for that hero kid Robin, we were sat at a table talking to the green guy when he walked over and sat at the table."

Holding his hands in the air to stop her talking, Shikamaru got a confused look on his face.

"He just walked right up to you?"

"Pretty much, he just sat down, sent the green guy away and started talking to us."

After taking a moment to think, Kakashi frowned.

"What can you tell us about the way he was acting, was he like that night three years ago?"

"... not exactly, he wasn't like that night but he wasn't like the usual Naruto either. He seemed more confident, in control, he didn't even shout or anything like he used to."

"I see, that still doesn't explain what happened that night though."

"I think I can explain that."

They all turned to the open doorway to find Ino leaning ageists the door frame, her skin pale and bags under her eyes. After Lee helped her to the couch they all looked at her with worry in there eyes.

"Ino you should be resting"

Rolling her eyes at her pinked haired friend, Ino leaned back in her seat and sighed.

"I know why he was acting so wired three years ago."

Seeing that she had their attention the blonde kunoichi continued.

"When I used my Mind Transfer Jutsu on him-"

"You what! Ino I warned you not to try and enter his mind."

"I know but-"

"Do you have any idea just ho dangerous and stupid that was, people had died from entering the mind of a Jinjuriki!"

"I know! Will you let me finish?"

Still frowning at what the girl had done, and sending more towards the other two kunoichi on his team, Kakashi nodded for her to go on.

"Naruto has Multiple Personality Disorder"

"... You're kidding, right."

"I wish I was, and it not just one. I ended up in his mindscape, which is basically what Konoha might look like in a thousand years, and got attacked by one of his personalities."

They all saw her body physically shiver at the thought before pulling herself back together.

"I don't know what it did to me, I think it was using killing intent, but not like any KI I've ever felt before. I don't know what would have happened if the other one didn't show up when it did."

"Other?"

What happened next confused them all as a large blush spread across Ino's face.

XXX

Ino knew this was it; she was going to die, here in Naruto's mind.

But even though she knew what was about to happen all Ino could think about was the fact that stood over her, with his face covered in shadows and a small smile on his face, was a six year old Naruto.

He was wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up to cover most of his hair and a pair of torn blue jeans, he had his hand in the large pocket at the front of his hoodie and his feet were bare and dirty. From where she was lying on the ground Ino could see that while his left eye was the same blue it had always been his right was blood red with a vertical slight going down the middle and both his eyes had deep bags under them and the whisker marks on his cheeks were thicker and darker then the real Naruto.

It was the eyes that scared her the most; they were too old, too serious for a six year old to have. It was like looking into a veteran ninja's eyes. They were filled with so much pain it actually hurt to look into them, yet no matter how hard she tried; the young Yamanaka could look anywhere else.

"You shouldn't have come here Yamanaka -san, shouldn't have tried to control us. Now you'll pay for what you've done to us."

In a choked voice that she had to force out, Ino managed to talk in a weak voice.

"I... haven't... done anything... to you"

"You're the same as all the rest; you ignored us until you had a use for us. You never cared about us!"

"That's... not... true"

"**DON' LIE TO US!**"

Ino cringed at his words. When he shouted his voice became distorted, like several voices were talking at the same time.

After taking a moment to calm down the six year of blonde looked back down at her with a impassive expression.

"We're going to kill you, slowly, painfully. You're going to feel everything we did growing up and when you're begging for death, begging to be released from your torment, only then will we kill you."

When he finished the same pressure that had made her see all those terrible images fro be for returned, the pictured of death and destruction not far behind. All she could do was scream.

"WRATH"

As quickly as it came the pressure disappeared and, through blurry vision, Ino could just make out the form of the young Naruto turning to look at something she couldn't see.

"This has nothing to do with you Lust, she entered our mind and for that she must pay!"

"Stop this foolishness Wrath, let her go, I'll make sure she leaves. No one has to die."

"**WE WANT HER BLOOD**!"

"I said no!"

For a moment nothing happened and, through her now clear eyes, Ino could see the now identified Wrath glaring at whoever the other person was that was standing just out of her sight. All she could tell was that whoever it was they were male and older then Wrath, judging from the deeper tone in his voice.

The young blonde stood his ground for several minutes before growling to himself and, after sending one last glare at the still downed Ino, turned and jumped to the of one of the nearby buildings and was gone from sight a moment later.

Letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, Ino couldn't stop herself as the tears fell down her face and her body was racked with sobs. It took the blond kunoichi several minutes before she realised that a pair of strong arms were circled around her, pulling her into and holding her against a muscular chest. She could hear the same voice as before whispering into her ear, comforting her and trying to clam her down.

When Ino did calm down, and had wiped the tears from her eyes, she looked to her saviour to thank him when her eyes widened yet again at what she saw.

Lust looked like a twenty year old Naruto and was the most perfect looking person she had ever seen.

He stood just over six foot tall, with a well muscular frame and a tan most woman would kill for. He wore a white Victorian style shirt with a pair of black skin tight pants and black leather gloves on his hands. His hair was slightly longer then the real Naruto's, with his fringe just covering his deep blue eyes and his face was more sculpted then his teenage self with the whiskers marks on his cheeks faded so much they could barely be seen.

When he saw her looking at him a gentle smile spread across his lips and a small chuckle escaped his throat. Sitting her up and taking a step back, the older version of Naruto crouched down in front of the still blushing Ino, the smile never leaving his face.

"You should feel better soon, though when you return to your body you'll be a little weak and have a killer headache. Wrath... has that effect on people."

It took a moment for his words to register in the young kunoichi's mine, the fact that his voice sounded like honey in her ears didn't help. How could one man, Naruto no less, be this sexy? Shaking her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, Ino frowned when she the image of the boy came back into her mind.

"What the hell is going on? Who the hell were that and who the hell are you?"

The smile still didn't leave his face; he just crouched there in front of her, smiling like nothing had happened.

"You know for such a cute girl, you sure have a mouth Ino-chan. I wonder what else it's good for"

For a moment Ino was left speechless, did he just say what she thought he said? Before she could ask him what he meant Lust stood up from his crouch and offered her hi hand to help her up and when she was on her feet took her hand and started to lead her down the street.

"As much as I would love to... get to know you better, you can't stay. I was able to stop Wrath from killing you but if the others decide to take his side I will not be able to stop them killing you, you're lucky I was able to stop him."

"What do you mean others, what the hell is going on here? Who are you?"

Stopping at the end of the street Lust looked around as if to make sure the cost was clear before turning back to Ino.

"Did you really think that someone could go through what Naruto did without there being some kind of physiological damage? We are all a part of one whole, puzzle pieces if you will."

"How many of you are there?"

For a moment he didn't say anything, just looked her in the eye and smiled.

"Something you need to understand Ino-chan, just because I saved you doesn't mean I'm on your side, the fact is that if you were an actual threat I'd kill you myself. As it is, your not, and I don't like the idea of killing if it's not necessary, it goes against my nature."

At his words Ino's eyes widened and without realizing it she took a step back.

Chuckling to himself Lust shook her head at the scared look on her face before stepping forward to close the distance between them and rested a gloved hand on her cheek.

"Like I said I don't like killing, so I'm going to send you back to your own body. Sweet dreams Ino-chan"

As he said this Lust learned his head forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. Before she could ask what he was doing Ino was hit with a sudden drowsiness. It swept through her entire body and within seconds she collapsed to the floor.

Just before she lost consciences completely and her eyes had started to blur Ino could just make out six other figures appearing around Lust, but before she could make any of them out her eyes closed and she saw no more.

XXX

For a moment they all just stared at Ino, no one knew what to say.

The fact that Naruto had Multiple Personality Disorder explained a lot, including why he had been acting like he did that night three years ago. After a few minutes had past Kakashi sighed and turned to Shikamaru.

"What do you make of all this?"

Frowning, the lazy Nara took a moment to think about everything he had heard before leaning back into his seat.

"Troublesome, from what Ino told us it's clear it wasn't Naruto that stabbed the chunnin at the gate or saw three years ago. If I had to guess I'd say it was this Wrath that attacked Ino from the way he was referring to himself as 'we' and 'us' instead of 'I' and 'me'. Also going off the names Wrath and Lust, along with the fact you said there were others; I think there are seven personalities inside Naruto's head."

Frowning, Kakashi leaned forward in his chair.

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Lust and Wrath are two of the 7 Deadly Sins. Lust, Wrath, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony and Pride"

Jumping to her feet and waving her arms in the air, Sakura let out shaky laugh before looking at each of the others in the eye, ending Shikamaru.

"Wait just a minute, are telling us that _the_ 7 Deadly Sins are inside Naruto's head? How is that even possible?"

"The one that was called Lust asked Ino if she was is she really expected someone could go through all that Naruto did without there being some kind of physiological damage. We all no what his childhood was like and I think his mind created them to deal with it, their not the actual sins, but rather manifestations of his pain."

After they all took a moment to digest the new information, Sasuke stood and started pacing.

"Something isn't right"

Looking to her boyfriend with confused eyes, Sakura got up and placed a hand on his arm to stop him pacing and turned him to look at her.

"What do you mean?"

"If it was this Wrath that was controlling Naruto three years ago then why did he threaten you, why not go back to Konoha when he was in control again?"

Sighing in exhaustion, Kakashi shook his head and stood up.

"The only one that can answer that is Naruto; you said he sent the green Titan away, do you think they knew each other?"

"Definitely"

Thinking for a moment the silver haired jonnin nodded to himself before turning back to the six teens.

"Then we have somewhere to start. Sasuke, I want you and Hinata to follow the Titans, see if they lead you to Naruto. If you find him don't approach him, call me and we'll all do it together."

After that hey all left to get some sleep and it wasn't until they had all gone that Kakashi realised Shikamaru was still in the room with him.

"What's on your mind?"

"When are you planning to tell them that even if we catch Naruto there is no guaranty he will be able to send us home. You're Summoning Jutsu doesn't work in this world and it was a reverse summoning that brought us here."

"We'll cross that road when it comes. For now we have to hope he can."

XXX

**Let me know what you think :)**

**I'll tell you this now because I'm sure people will ask about it at some point, each of the Sins will have their own ability that only they can do. I'm not going to tell you them because I'm saving it for later :P**

**Remember to send me a carrot with your reviews:)**


	6. Low Profile, Yeh Right

**Sorry it took me so long to update, my computer was stolen by the Rabbits in retribution for trying to eat all the worlds' carrots. I won't go into details on how I got it back, though it did involve a blowtorch, 20 feet of steel cable, a sledgehammer, a rubber chicken and a bucket hat XD**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

XXX

Chapter 6- Low Profile...Yeh Right

Naruto was doing his best to try and ignore the pair of dark rimed green eyes that were staring at him intently as he went through his usual workout, the sound of music around the room doing little to take his mind off of the fact that Gaara hadn't said a word to him since he had told him about asking Raven out. It had been three days since the party and his date with the grey skinned Titian was at 7pm the next day.

He had been putting off telling his red headed friend until now because he was worried he might try and talk him out of it which, considering the doubts he had been having wouldn't have been to hard. So there they were, Naruto in the middle of his workout and Gaara stood against the wall next to the door with his usual blank expression on his face.

"I think you made the right choice."

Stopping with his foot mid kick in the air, which resulted in the blonde ex-nin losing his balance and falling to the ground, Naruto looked at his friend for a moment from his position on the floor in shock.

"What!"

Raising an eyebrow at Narutos reaction, Gaara waited until he got back to his feet before he explained.

"You like her, even I am able to understand that. We are in a new world where all but seven people know who and what we are and you spend all your time either working in your bookstore or training underground. You've been here three years and until recently hadn't made a single friend that isn't to do with work other then the Titians and even then you keep them at arms length, it will do you good to have a girlfriend."

Looking at the floor so he didn't have to meet his friends eyes, Naruto tried one last time.

"But what about keeping a low profile? If I get involved with her it will be all over the Jump city news in a matter of hours."

Letting out a sigh Gaara walked over to stand next to his first and oldest friend and rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to convey just how important his next words were.

"Naruto no matter how hard you try, nothing about you will ever be 'low profile'."

For a moment neither of them said anything, Naruto not sure how he should respond and Gaara falling back into his usual silence.

He wanted to tell him he was wrong, that he could have a normal life if he tried, but for some reason the words just wouldn't leave his lips. After several minutes the blonde Jinchuriki shook his head, turned off the music and without another walked left the gym and straight into his study, locking the door behind him.

XXX

Raven was having a panic attack, something that was obvious from the clothes laying all other the floor of her room and the remains of what had at one point been her bed, now a pile of splinters because of her powers, which had been moved to the corner of the room out of the way. Naruto would be at the tower to pick her up in an hour and she couldn't calm down no matter how hard she tried.

Sat on the floor in the middle of the room, watching as the grey skinned teen continued to throw her clothes out of her closet were Starfire and Terra, the red headed alien looking on with wide eyed innocence and the blonde with slight confusion as to how so many clothes could be coming out of such a small space.

Shaking her head, Terra shifted so she was lying on the floor, leaning her head on her elbow.

"I don't get why you're so worried, you go for tea with Naruto all the time, what's the difference?"

Pocking her head out of the door and levelling a blank look at her blonde friend, Raven shook her head before vanishing back inside to continue her hunt for something to where.

"The difference is that he asked me out on a _date_, not just as friends."

Getting a confused look on her face at Ravens words, Starfire took a moment before asking something that got both of the other girl's attention.

"What is a 'date' friend Raven? Are you and friend Naruto going to eat fruit?"

Shaking her head at the innocent girl's question, though she was glad Robin had finally got her to stop swearing like a sailor, the grey skinned teen sighed and gave up on her search for the moment and moved to sit next to Starfire.

"It's not that kind of date Star. Don't your people have some kind of thing were you get to know someone you wont to have a relationship with?"

Taking a moment to think, a look of realisation suddenly came to the red headed aliens face and without warning she started to giggle to herself, setting off warnings in the dark Titians head.

"Oh I understand you and friend Naruto are starting your courtship! That is great news! You must tell me when you are to marry!"

If Raven had been drinking anything at that moment she would have spit it right into the red heads face in shock. Her eyes wide and mouth open, the grey skinned teen hardly even noticed as several items of clothing started floating around as if caught in a strong wind. She did notice however Terra rolling around on the ground laughing, holding her sides.

The whole time Starfire never lost the innocent look on her face.

XXX

Appearing in the blind spot in Titian Tower security system right next to his seal in a flash of yellow light, Naruto took a moment to pull in a deep breath to help steady his nevus. Despite the more sensible part of his mind, namely Sloth, telling him that this would cause more trouble then he wanted to deal with, Naruto decided to go though with it anyway.

He wore a long sleeved shirt under a simple white one with the buttons left undone, a pair of blue jeans, black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back and his usual brown bucket hat. After checking his watch and seeing that it was exactly 7pm the blonde ex-ninja straighten his shirt and, taking one more deep breath, stepped out of the blind spot and quickly walked over to the door.

By the time Robin came down to let him in Naruto had replaced his nevus expression with a small friendly smile, his body langue showing nothing but calm and he nodded to the brightly dressed hero only to stop when he saw both Beastboy and Cyborg stood just inside the door, both with serious looks on their faces. Raising an eyebrow at the two, the blonde turned to look at Robin just in time to see him closing the door with the same look on his face as the others.

He watched as the skinny teen walked past him without saying a word and stood in the middle of the other two teens with his arms crossed. His eyes looked Naruto up and down, as if sizing him up, and after a minute of silence he spoke.

"So...where are you taking Raven tonight?"

For a moment nothing happened, the blonde just staring at the three with a blank expression on his face, before he burst out laughing. He couldn't help it; they looked and acted just like concerned brothers trying to scare their little sisters first date away. He was laughing so hard he was forced to hold his sides as they started to hurt. When Naruto finally got himself under control, he wiped a tear from his eye and turned back to look at the three Titans, giving them a warm smile as he shook his head.

"You're giving me the big brother act, really? If Raven finds out about this she will be so pissed, you do realise that right?"

Shifting nervously, their eyes moving to each other before looking back at the blonde, all three teens let out a sigh of defeat before Cyborg walked over to and rested a hand on Naruto's shoulder, his face returning once again serious as he look the smaller teen in the eye.

"Look man, your a good guy and all but the fact is that Raven is like a sister to us-"

"Yeh...a sister that can kick our buts if we piss her off."

After sending a frown at the green skinned teen for interrupting him, Cyborg turned back to Naruto.

"Like I was saying, she's like a sister to us and we don't want to see her get hurt."

Chuckling slightly, Naruto reached up and patted the metal teen on the back.

"You do realise that if I did do something to hurt Ravens feelings, not that I have any intention to do so, that she would probably just kick my ass herself right?"

Smiling at the blondes words, Robin couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips.

"He's got a point."

Before they could continue the sound of the lift doors opening drew their attention just as Starfire, Terra and Raven stepped out.

Naruto's eyes instantly locked on Raven, widening slightly at the sight of her. She had forgone he usual black leotard and blue clock for a pair of form fitting jeans, a black tank top and a dark grey hoodie. Her cheeks were a deep shade of red as she looked at Naruto, the blush just adding to her already cute face in his opinion. It was the first time he had seen her in anything but her uniform and the he was pleasantly surprise.

Smiling slightly Naruto walked past Robin and the others two male Titans, who no had their jaws on the floor at the sight of their purple haired teammate, and stopped in front of her. Tilting his hat to her his smile never leaving his face, he took one of her hands before kissing the back of it, making her already red cheeks practically glow.

"Beautiful as ever, Raven-chan. Shell we go?"

Nodding Raven stepped closure the whiskered teen and, after wrapping her arms around him, pulled them both into the shadows.

XXX

After the movie, an action film that Naruto found a little boring, the two teens decided to go and get some tea at their usual spot. He even got Raven to try some of his green tea after a little persuasion, and she ended up ordering one for herself.

They spent a lot of time talking, though it wasn't long before Raven realised that she was doing most of the talking while Naruto asked questions and, after about half an hour she had had enough of him dodging her questions.

"You do realise that at some point you will have to tell me about yourself right?"

Raising an eyebrow at her as he took a sip from his cup, Naruto chuckled quietly and smile.

"That's where you're wrong Raven-chan, I am more then confident in my ability to dodge any and all questions that I don't want to answer, it's both a gift and a curse really."

Rolling her eyes, the grey skinned teen looked away from her blonde date and tried to hide her face by taking a sip from her own tea, making no effort at all to hide the fact that she was upset by his unwillingness to tell her about himself.

After a few minutes passed without either of them saying anything Naruto scratched the back of his head and, letting out a sigh of his own, leaned forward slightly to get Raven's attention.

"Three questions, I'll answer anything you want."

After looking into his eyes for a moment to be sure he was serious, the purple haired teen thought for a moment about what she wanted to ask him. If she was honest there were a lot of things she wanted to know about the blonde; his life before he moved to Jump city, the fact hat he collected some of the rarest and most dangerous books on the planet, the full story of how he met Gaara. But then something else popped into her head. A word, nothing more then a single word that she had only heard once but for some reason had stuck itself to the back of her mind and stayed hidden right up until this moment. Before Raven even knew what she was saying, the question left her lips.

"What is a Jinchuriki?"

Whatever reaction he was expecting, this wasn't it. Naruto's whole body went tense, his eyes widened, he stopped breathing and his skin started to go a little pale. After several minutes passed and the blonde still hadn't moved Raven was getting worried and was about to ask if he was ok when he spoke, his voice slightly strained.

"Ask something else."

This just caused the grey skinned teen to frown.

"You said anything-"

"-please...I just can't...please ask something else."

If his first reaction didn't shock her the way he just spoke did, his voice actually quivered and his eyes were staring at her in desperation, silently begging her to ask something, _anything_ else. She didn't stand a chance.

Letting out a small sigh, Raven took anther sip of her tea and tried not to think about the look that had just been on his face.

"Fine...then tell me about your home village, you said before that it was called Konoha but never went into much detail."

After taking a moment to relax now that she had changed her question to something he felt more comfortable answering, though not by much, Naruto nodded his head and told her about his home village.

"Konohagakue no Sato, of in English the Village Hidden in the Leaves, it's a pretty big village, though no where near as big as Jump city. It's surrounded about twenty miles of forest, which is the reason for its name, and has a population of about 4,000. The village itself is heavily militarised and is run by a council made up of a mixture of civilians, soldiers and clan heads, with the one in charge being the Hokage, the leader of the military."

Raising an eyebrow at the oddly dull explanation of his home, and the fact that it seemed to be run by a dictatorship, Raven decided to push for more information.

"What were the people like?"

She didn't miss the dark look that crossed Naruto's face.

"They were bitter fools that couldn't tell the difference between a cage and the animal inside it."

Getting a confused look on her face at the way he talked about the people of his village, and the odd image he used to describe them, the purple haired girl let it drop for the moment and they once again fell into silence. When she did ask anymore questions after a few minutes had passed Naruto decided to try and get the conversation going again.

"You still have one question you know-"

"Two"

Raising one of his eyebrows at her, the blonde teen shook his head, a small smile stretching across his face.

"I don't think so, you've ask two so far, I said three."

"You made me drop the first question, so I think I should get one back, unless you want to answer it?"

Naruto's smile turned into a grin, he could help it.

"Fair enough, so what do you want to know now?"

Thinking for a moment, Raven sat back in her seat, a slightly smug look on her face at having outwitted him.

"I think I'll save them, never know when I might need them."

After nodding his head in agreement, the two started talking normally again for the rest of the night and about an hour later left the tea shop and started making their way down the street towards the store. They were both in a good mood, small smiles on their aces as they chatted about different books they had read, they had just reached the door to his shop.

Then it happened again, for the second time that night Raven watched as Naruto's whole body froze, his eyes fixed on something and a small gasp escaped his throat. Turning to look at what he was staring at, the dark Titan frowned. Hanging from the door handle was a dark blue cloth, a mental plate attacked to it with a strange mark engraved into it that looked like some kind of leaf and a long, deep scratch running straight through it. Without thinking she reached out to take it only to stop when Naruto grabbed her wrist.

This was when she noticed the difference between now and when he froze before, instead of acting nervous, he was angry. He was shaking in barely controlled rage, his eyes alight and glaring at the metal plate as if he was trying to burn a hole through it with his gaze. Then as suddenly as it came all the anger drained from his face, slowly being replaced with...nothing. His face was completely blank as he let go of her wrist before quickly grabbing the cloth and stuffing it in his pocket.

He turned to look at her and for a moment it was the same blank look, but again it disappeared almost instantly as if it was never their to begin with and was replace with his usual small smile, it actually worried Raven how he was so easily able to switch between emotions.

"I'm sorry Raven-chan but something's come up and I'll have to call it a night."

Looking at the blonde with worried expression on her face, Raven couldn't help but send a quick glance to the pocket that held the cloth.

"Naruto, is someone threatening you, is that what that cloth means?"

Not meeting her eye, the whiskered teen just turned to his door to unlock it, before looking back over his shoulder with a smile.

"It's nothing you need to worry about Raven-chan; I hope to see you tomorrow at the usual time."

Without waiting for a response Naruto quickly went inside, closing the door behind him, leaving a worried Raven to sink into the shadows and disappear. The moment she was gone, Naruto stepped back out into the street, locked the door and started walking. He walked until he came to a dark ally, the light provided by the street lights not reaching more then ten feet own the narrow space between the two buildings and stopped when he was half way.

Without turning to look as two shadowed figures appeared behind him from the way he came, the blond ex-ninja spoke, his face and voice once again completely empty.

"You've got a lot of balls to come here alone...or is it just stupidity, overconfidence maybe, you know it put a real downer on my date right? Though I must admit that I didn't think you'd keep my old head band for all these years...Sasuke"

Moving forward, leaving a very nervous Hinata at the end of the ally as she kept looking around as if worried someone would see them, Sasuke stopped just a few feet away from Naruto, his faces just as blank as the blondes. He looked him up and down, sizing him up for a moment, before he spoke.

I understand now why it was so hard to fund you; I didn't even know you could read."

"Well, it's not like I had much chose in the matter back in the village, the civilians didn't like the idea of the 'Kyuubi-brat' being smart, in fact the one time a villager saw me reading when I was eight a he set the book on fire while it was still in my hands."

"...you need to stop this Naruto, just come back with us and everything will be like it used to be."

Turing so he was facing the Uchiha, Naruto let a small smirk cross his lips that would normally be seen on the dark haired boy in front of him, his hands in his pocked and his entire body langue say 'you can try, but I wouldn't if I was you'.

"Like it used to be? You mean back when I had to pretend to be an idiot so I wasn't attacked on the street by the same people I was trying to protect? Being treated like a slave by my so called friends? How about being ignored by everyone until they need something from me, only o ignore me again after I do it?"

They could both hear Hinata as she started to cry at his words from her position at the end of the ally. Frowning Sasuke grabbed Naruto by his collar and pushed him against the wall hard, pinning him in place, his sharingan active as he glared at the blonde.

"Is that really what you think of us? What about all the people that cared about you? What about Sakura, did you know that she cried for a week after we got her? What about that old man and his daughter that run Ichiraku? What about Tsunade, don't any of them matter!"

Glaring at the dark hair teen that had him pinned and, taking in deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down, he didn't even realise that his right eye was flashing between red and blue.

"Back off Uchiha, or I'll make you."

After a minute had passed and Sasuke still hadn't let him go, He snapped. Bringing his hands up and resting them on the red eyed teen's chest, Naruto did something that left both Sasuke and Hinata speechless. With a burst of wind Sasuke was sent flying back and into the wall on the other side of the ally, hitting it with enough force to leave creaks where his back slammed into it.

Everything was quite for the next few minutes, the only sound coming from Naruto as he tried to calm his breathing. When he finally managed to get himself under control, Naruto straightened his shirt and without a word walked to the end of the ally where a still shocked Hinata was staring at him. Just before he felt the blonde ex-ninja stopped, looked over his shoulder with a dark look in his eyes.

"This is your second warning, leave me alone, I'm not going back and nothing you say will change my mind."

Without another word Naruto left them in the ally as he made his way back to his store.

XXX

After few minutes passed in which time Sasuke stood back up, using the wall a support until Hinata came to help him, the two teens slowly started to make their way back to their base. After a few minutes of walking Hinata, in a voice barely above a whisper, spoke.

"I told you we shouldn't had done that Sasuke-san, Kakashi-san told us not to make contact."

Sighing as he held one hand to his ribs as they throbbed in pain form when he was pushed into the brick wall, the young Uchiha let a small frown cross his lips.

"I needed to at least try Hinata and, even if there was only a small chance of him listening, I owed him that. At least we were able to gather a few more things for Shikamaru to add to his plans."

"Like what?"

Taking a moment to catch his breath, the strain his from his bruised spin and ribs forcing him to take quick short breaths, the dark haired teen explained.

"For starters we were able to confirm his location and that was the point of us following the Titans for the last few days. Second, I don't know if he realise it but when I pinned him against the wall his right eye kept flashing red, I think that means he was fighting for control with that Wrath personality Ino was telling us about, and it was tied directly with his emotions. And thirdly, he can apparently use wind jutsu without hand seals...and they really hurt."

XXX

The moment Raven reappeared in the tower she quickly moved to the common room and, paying no attention to the others who had apparently waited up for her, grabbed a piece of paper and drew the same symbol she had seen engraved on the metal attached to the cloth hung from Narutos door. The grey skinned teen ignore her friends as they asked her who how the date went and started to crowd around her, looking over her shoulder at the picture. When she was done Raven let out a sigh before turning to Robin, thrusting the drawing into his hands, a small frown on her face.

Looking from the drawing to his grey skinned friend several times with raised eyebrow, not sure what she wanted him to do, the boy wonder was about to ask before she spoke.

"I want you to find out what you can about that mark, if it means something in particular, if it's linked to any organisation, anything you can find. Also see if you can find out what Jinchuriki means, I think it's Japanese so start there."

"Raven, what's going on?"

Moving to sit on the couch, the others following her, Raven rub her forehead as if to help ward of the headache that was frightening to burst inside her head.

"I think someone is frightening Naruto."

That was all it took for Robin to make his way over to his computer to start the search, though he made sure to stay within earshot so he could here the rest of what she had to say. He scanned the drawing into his computer and started a search, thousands of images flashing across the large screen as it searched for a match. While he did that Cyborg opened a small panel on his arm and started typing into the small computer that was hidden there, searching for the meaning of Jinchuriki.

"Everything was going great; we saw a movie then went to get tea and talk. We were heading to his store when he just froze, that's when I saw some kind of blue cloth hanging off the door handle with a metal plate stitched on to it and that symbol engraved on it. I think it was damaged; there was a deep scratch going through the symbol. Then he got angry and wouldn't tell me anything."

They all sheared looks with each other at the fact that Naruto had been angry; it was actually a little hard to picture. They had seen him annoyed a few times, but other then the time he first met Terra he was almost always clam and collected, not letting anything shake him. They had seen him brush off a gun to the head as nothing more then a annoyance, yet whatever this symbol meant had made him lose his cool.

As he watched the screen flicking through images, Robin frowned as something Raven said stuck in his mind. Turing away from the screen and to the grey skinned Titan, the boy wonder spoke.

"You said there was a scratch over the symbol?"

When she nodded his frown deepened.

"Back when I was in Gotham I used to have to deal with a lot of gangs and organisations, most of which had some kind of logo or symbol, like a calling card..."

Looking at his friend with a mixture of worry and confusion on his face as he stopped typing for a moment, Cyborg moved to stand next to the brightly dressed Titan.

"...Rob, where are you going with this?"

Letting out a sigh, Robin turned in his chair so he was facing everyone, including a very interested Raven.

"It's just this is a lot like the sort of threats that were given to a gang member that left, if it was just the symbol I wouldn't think anything of it, but the scratch makes me think it could be a death threat."

Everyone went quite at his words, no one knowing what to say until Raven stood from her seat and started to leave the room only to stop at the door and look at them over her shoulder.

"Naruto's not now, nor has he ever been a gang member, there's something we're missing...there has to be."

XXX

_Breaking new_

"_We come to you live outside a small bookstore in Jump city that we have confirmed is run and owned by one Naruto Uzumaki, a young man that was seen on a date with none other them the Teen Titan Raven. Last night we were informed by a bystander who had seen the dark Titan walking into a movie with Mr Uzumaki. We are now outside his store waiting for it to open so we can interview him, stay tuned."_

XXX

Sat on the couch in his underground home, Naruto couldn't help but let out another sigh as he watched the new, cigarette in hand as they showed pictures of his date with Raven. Apparently the spotty teen that had sold them their tickets at the movie had recognised Raven and alerted the media. They were showing pictures of them coming out of the movie, walking around the city and finally one of them sat in the tea shop talking.

"_At least they didn't try to interview us while we were _on_ the date_."

That was probably the only good thing about this situation. Now he would have to deal with the reporters that had gathered outside his door. There went his morning tea out the window.

"You knew this was going to happen."

Letting out a deep breath, along with a cloud of smoke Naruto turned to look at Gaara stood behind him. His face was as expressionless as it always is, though he could have sworn he saw the corners of his lips curving up at the ends, making him let out a small growl in frustration before turning back to the TV.

"Doesn't make it any easier, how am I even going to open the shop without them charging in and shoving cameras in my face?"

Raising an eyebrow at his blonde friend, Gaara leaned over his shoulder and took his packet of cigarettes, taking one out and lighting it and after a few breaths turned back to Naruto.

"You're asking someone who, only a few years ago was a homicidal murderer, the only thing I can think of involves killing them all with my sand."

"...good point."

After a few more minutes of watching the news, which was basically them showing the pictures from last night over and over again as they stood outside his door, Naruto let out one last sigh before standing up and making his way to the stairs. Only stopping for a moment to put out his cigarette, he moved around the store making sure everything was in place like he did every morning, Gaara stood at the door watching him as he checked, and when he was done sent a nod towards his red headed friend to open the door.

What Gaara didn't notice however was that as soon as he turned his back Naruto had jumped to the second floor and move to the back of the room so he wouldn't be seen, leaving him to the mercy of the reporters and there cameras flashing in his stoic face the moment the door was unlocked. If it wasn't for the fact he was trying not to kill them the red head might have been amused at the looks on their faces when they realise he was Naruto. Ignoring their questions turned around without a word, picked up a stack of books that were had been placed on the counter and started to walk around the store. The moment he moved away from the door the reporters rushed in and started looking around trying to find the blonde.

After about a minute of looking one of the reporters, a pretty blonde woman in a black dress and too much make-up, walked up to Gaara and tapped in on the shoulder. When he didn't respond right away she walked around so she was facing him, a frown on her face at being ignored before she replaced it with what she thought was a charming smile.

"Hi, I'm Summer Day with channel 3 news, I'm sure you've heard of me. Anyway I was wondering if you could tell me where Mr Uzumaki is so we can get an interview."

He just stood there, staring at her without any emotion on his pale face and without realising it the reporter took a step away from the odd redhead, the scar on his forehead only seeming to add to his intimidation. Smiling, at least on the inside at the fact he still had it, Gaara raised an eyebrow at the woman before turning his back to her and walking towards the stairs.

When he got to the second floor, the woman and other reporters following, he saw Naruto sat at the back of the room at his usual table with his restoration equipment on the table and an old, leather bound book in front of him. He was wearing a pair of special glasses that could be used as magnifying glasses, not that he really needed them and they were mostly for show, his head bent down as he examined the book for damages.

He kept his back turned to the group as they approached, seeming not to notice as they came up behind him. The moment she saw him sat at the table the reporter that had been talking to Gaara before walked past him, took a pose next to Naruto as her cameraman started filming, and smile.

"This is Summer Day and I'm here next to Naruto Uzumaki, suspected _boyfriend_ of none other then the dark Teen Titan herself, Raven. Mr Uzumaki, is there anything you would like to say?"

Moving her microphone so he could talk into it, Summer stood there smiling at the camera as she waited for him to speak. However after a long pause her smile faltered slightly and her eyes moved to the blonde teen, who hadn't even looked up from his work, and after sending another smile to the camera pulled the microphone back to her face.

"Well...can you comment on the rumour that you are dating Raven from the teen Titan's?"

Again she got no answer. Letting her announce for the first time, Summer frowned.

"Mr Uzumaki do you have anything to say, anything at all?"

"Your name is ridicules."

Everything in the room went quite at his words, all the other reporters going silent as they tried to understand what he had just said. Summer's smile got even more strained.

"What was that?"

Letting out a sigh, Naruto took off the glasses and slowly turned around in his chair so that he was facing them all, and as his eyes landed on Summer he let a small smile cross hi lips.

"I said your name is ridicules, what parent would name their daughter Summer Day, either they had a strange sense of humour or you changed it later on for whatever reason. Right about now I bet you're all wondering why I'm saying all of this, the fact is I don't care what any of you think and as far as I'm concerned your a bunch of vultures circling around what your hoping to be your next big meal. So desperate for a story that you are willing to turn peoples lives upside-down to get it. I will say this only once, I have nothing to say to any of you and unless your here to buy a book I want you to leave, I have work to do and your taking up space."

After his little speech Naruto turned his back to the group of reporters, including a now red faced Summer Day, put his glasses back on and continued his work. When a few minutes had passed and none of them had left Naruto let out another sigh.

"Gaara, could you escort them out? If any resist you know what to do."

Nodding the red headed Jinchuriki walked to the front of the group and motioned for them to leave, but none of them moved. After waiting for a moment, Gaara let out a sigh of his own and raised his arms out to his side, getting the full attention of the group of reporters, and let out a cloud of sand and had it float in the air. The reporters eyes looked like dinner plates as more and more sand came out of Gaara's sleeves, moving around in the air with a mind of its own, and slowly stated to make its way towards them.

"Leave"

That one word was all it took for the group to run for the door with their tails between their legs.

XXX

Later that day Raven, Starfire and Terra were making their way down the street to Naruto's store. They had all seen the failed interview on the news in the morning and weren't sure if they should be worried or if they should laugh, the looks on the reporters faces when Gaara had brought out his sand was priceless. He was now almost as big a story as Naruto himself and the new were putting pictures up of the red head as he let his sand out with question marks around him, there were even rumours of him being a new Titan.

Except for Terra, who was new to the team and had yet to join them 'in the field' as Robin called it, they had all been at the mercy of Summer Day at least once. Even Beastboy didn't like her, and he like most people, so when Naruto talked her down on TV it had brought a smile to all their faces.

Robin was still doing research on the strange symbol Raven had seen, his computer still processing, and had started to make calls with his contacts around the country trying to find where it was from. But that wasn't the strange thing, what was strange was what Cyborg had found. After spending half the night trying to translate the word Jinchuriki the mechanical teen decided to learn Japanese, at least that's what he said, all he really did was download the information into his head. It was because of this that he was able to get a ruff translation. From what he was able to workout Jinchuriki could be translated as 'Power of Human Sacrifice', which had them all worried.

The biggest problem however was that she couldn't ask Naruto it without admitting she had her friends look into it, something she knew he wouldn't be happy about. They had just turned the corner onto the street, Raven still lost in thought, when all three girls froze in place.

Crowded outside the bookstore with cameras rolling was what could only be described as a small army of reporters. Some of them were just stood around, talking to each other, and others were talking into their microphones as they gave 'updates' of what was happening. Then they spotted them coming round the corner and it was like a dame had been broken.

It wasn't much of a surprise when the first to reach them was Summer Day, her smile in place as she turned around to her cameraman.

"I'm here outside the bookstore of Mr Uzumaki with none other then Raven and Starfire. Raven, could you spread some light onto the relationship you have with Mr Uzumaki? The whole country wants to know."

The grey skinned teen didn't even try to hide the frown that came to her face and without a word pushed past the sea of reporter, Starfire and Terra right behind her, and quickly made their was towards the store. However before they could get there they were stopped by a familiar voice that made them stop.

"Long time no see Raven come to visit your little boyfriend?"

Before they had time to think the three teen were forced to jump out of the way as a car came flying towards them and smashed through into the front of the store. The reports that had been following tem all ran as far back as they could, but stayed in the area so they could record what was happening.

Turing in the direction the voice had come from the three Titans saw three very familiar faces. Across the street with smug looks on their faces were Jinx, Mammoth, who was wiping the dust off his hand from just throwing the car, and Gizmo.

"Ha-ha, how'd you like that but munch!"

Letting a small growl leave her throat as she got back to her feet Raven, followed shortly after by a serious faced Starfire and a worried Terra, and standing side by side stared at the three HIVE students.

Jinx just smirked.

"So we heard you had a boyfriend and decided to pay him a visit, I guess we got lucky and ran into you on the way."

Before anything else could be said between the two groups the car, which was still lodged in the front wall of the bookstore, burst out as if it was shot by a canon with a trail of sand behind it and for a minute no one said anything as they waited for the dust to clear. It was while they were watching that two shadows appeared, a little fuzzy around the edges, but still clearly human.

When the dust finally cleared it was to the sight of both Naruto and Gaara stood side by side, the red head with is usual stoic self, looking at the three teens stood across the street and giving nothing away. However it was easy to see the annoyance on Naruto's face from a mile away as he walked forward, past Raven and into the road between the two groups, his eyes locked on the large form of Mammoth.

"Did you just throw a fucking _car_ through the front of my store?"

Blinking in confusion for a moment, the large teen scratched his head.

"Erm...yh?"

"Are you going to pay for it?"

For a moment everything went silent, everyone who was within hearing distance of the blonde staring at him as if he was insane. After they got over their shock at the, in their minds stupid question, the three teenage villains started laughing, Jinx the only one able to speak through her laughter.

"Are you kidding, you really think we would pay for it, hahaha!"

Naruto just ignored the laughter, his frown deepening slightly as he crossed his arms over his chest before, without warning, he disappeared.

"...yes."

Before anyone had time to realize what was going on Naruto reappeared in the air right in front of Mammoths and, turning in mid air, the blonde kicked the large red headed teen in the side of the head. What happened next was even more shocking as the large form of Mammoth was sent flying through the air and crashed into a wall on the other side of the street.

Landing in a handstand on the ground in front of Gizmo, Naruto used the toddler sized villains shock to his advantage, flipped over his head so he was on his feet. Kicking him in to the air, the whiskered teen followed this by slamming both his hands in to small geniuses back, destroying his backpack and sending him into the same wall as Mammoth, who was groaning on the ground when Gizmo landed on his stomach.

By this time Jinx was able to recover from her shock and sent a bright pink wave of bad luck energy straight at Naruto who, seeing the energy wave out of the corner of his eye jumped up into the air, his feet tucked in as it sailed under him and hit a post-box causing it to explode. Landing in a slight crouch the blonde rushed, his form starting the pink haired girl, who kept sending out waves in a desperate attempt to him, and when he was close enough he rested his hand on her shoulders.

The world seemed to go into slow motion around her as Jinx got her first look at his eyes, which until this point ad been shadowed by his hat, or more pacifically his right eye, his red eye that seemed to be staring at her with uncontrolled rage. It was a complete contrast to his left blue eye that seemed to be filled with nothing but regret and sadness, as if he was sorry for what was happening.

Then time went back to normal and she had just enough time for her eyes to go wide before Naruto head butted her. Jinx's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she lost consciousness, the last thing she saw those same two eyes and a strand of blonde hair sticking out from under his hat. Taking his hand from pink haired villains shoulders and letting her fall limply to the ground, get out a sigh and scratch the top of his head.

It was as if a switch had being thrown as his body fell into a more relaxed stance, his body langue showing nothing but indifference, and when he lifted his head to look at the shocked faces of the small crowed that had gathered his eyes were once again the same sky blue they had always been. After a moment of looking his eyes landed on Raven, who was looking at him with the same expression on her face as everyone else. He sent her an uncertain grin much like the ones he used to give people back when he was in Konoha, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Off to one side, still standing next to the ruined front wall of the bookstore, Gaara looked from his blonde friend to the large group of reporters and their cameramen that were watching from a safe distance, and couldn't help letting out a sigh and shaking his head.

"Low profile...yeh right."

XXX

**Hope you like the chapter and again sorry it took so long.**

**You got to see a little of what Naruto can do in this one, and before you start on the fact he didn't use any seals just wait, you'll see what I have planned in later chapters. :)**

**R&R :)**


	7. Chances

**Sorry it's took so long.**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

XXX

Chapter 7- Chances

"What the hell was all that?"

Naruto sighed; he was doing that a lot lately, as he looked at the angry face of his girlfriend. After the 'incident' outside ended and the police had taking the three unconscious teens Naruto had lead Raven, Starfire and Terra into the back of his store where he had his fake home set up, Gaara right behind them. He was now sat on the couch in his living room, Gaara next to him, as Raven stared down at him from her standing position in front of them.

He should have known better, losing his temper in front of so many people, reporters with fucking cameras none the less, his head was killing him and he felt like someone had taken a hammer and bashed it into his temple.

The moment they arrived in the room Naruto new it was going to be a long day, the look on Raven's face practically screamed for answers. She even had Terra and Starfire stand next to the door to prevent them from escaping, not that they could stop them if they wanted to.

Leaning back into the couch Naruto let a small amused smile cross his lips, which just seemed to infuriate Raven even more, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know what you mean Raven-chan."

Narrowing her eyes at her blonde boyfriend, the grey skinned teen put her hands on her hips and leaned forward so she was staring directly down at him.

"I'm talking about the fact you move so fast you were invisible to the naked eye, I'm talking about the fact you kicked Mammoth over thirty feet away and through a wall, I'm talking about the fact you just took out a team of villains that takes all the Titans to beat like they were children! I'm talking about the fact you never told me you had powers..."

At the end of her rant Raven's voice had become little more then a whisper, her eyes not even looking at him anymore. The smile left his face instantly when he saw the hurt in her eyes and without even think Naruto stood up and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest as he gently stroked her back.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Raven-chan, but it's not something I like to talk about, I still don't. But when I'm ready you'll be the first one I come to, ok."

The only response he got was her nodding her head against his shoulder and they stayed like that for several minutes, the other in the room averting their eyes to give the two some kind privacy. When Raven had calmed down Naruto led her to the couch and sat her between himself and Gaara, who had been watching the exchange with his usual stoic expression, and when they were comfortable Naruto put his arm around her shoulder.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Naruto let out another sigh as he mentally prepared himself for what was coming before he nodded to his red headed friend. Without a word Gaara stood up and walked out of the room, the three girls watching him go with confused expressions on their faces before turning back to the whiskered teen sat next to Raven.

Seeing their looks Naruto gave them a small smile before chuckling.

"I just, as you put it Raven-chan, 'took out a team of villains that takes all the Titans to beat like that they were children', in front of a group of reporters. By now it will be all over Jump city, which means a certain traffic light will be bursting through that door any minute now, so Gaara's going to show them through before they do any more damage to my shop."

Not a minute later Naruto's words were proven correct when Robin came into the room, Cyborg, Beastboy and Gaara right behind him, a large frown on his face when he saw Naruto. Walking straight up to the blonde and standing in front of him in the exact same way Raven had been not ten minutes ago, his arms crossed over his chest and eyes looking straight into Naruto's.

"...why didn't you tell us?"

Taking his arm from around Raven's shoulders and, leaning forward so his chin resting on his hands as he tried to ignore the pounding in his head, Naruto raised an eyebrow at Robin.

"I don't like your tone, Traffic light-san."

Practically growling at the blonde, Robin's frown only increased at his words as his face turned red.

"Why didn't you tell us you had powers!"

Even with the brightly dressed teen shouting in his face Naruto still didn't lose his calm, though he did frown a little as the noise aggravated his headache even more, and just stared into his eyes behind the mask with a blank expression.

"Because I didn't see it as being important, just because I have powers it doesn't change anything."

"Doesn't change anything!"

Taking a moment to calm himself down Robin started taking deep breaths as he turned away from the whiskered teen before moving to lean against the wall across from where he was sat. When he turned back there was a thoughtful look on his face that Naruto didn't like.

"What can you do other then having super strength and...Whatever it was you did to move so fast?"

Leaning back in his seat, Naruto raised an eyebrow at the brightly dressed hero, shaking his head slightly.

"Again, I don't see why it's important for you to know."

Frown returning, though not to the same degree it had been before, Robin sighed as he rubbed a hand over his face.

"If we're going to be working together we need to know what you can do."

The way he said this made it sound like the most obvious answer in the world, as if there was no doubt in his mind that he would join them, and again Naruto didn't like where this was going.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Waving a hand dismissively in the air, Robin continued talking to himself as if he hadn't said anything.

"It will take a few days for you to move into Titan Tower, and of course Gaara to, we'll have to train you up a bit but that should only take a few weeks, a month at the most. Then when you're settled in we'll bring you on patrols with us."

Around the room the other Titans stared to get excited looks on their faces at the thought of their new friends joining the team, even Raven couldn't hide the small smile that came to her lips. None of them noticed the frown that crossed the blondes face and the way his hands had curled into fists at his side and started shaking, no one except Gaara, who was slowly edging away form the blonde in slight fear when he saw the look in his friend's eyes. As for Naruto, it was taking all of his self control to stop himself from jumping up and punching Robin in the face, his head still pounding as he listened to the teen talk.

"I'm not joining the Titans"

Everything went completely silent at his words, the six Titans looking at him with mixtures of shock and confusion on their faces as his words seemed to sink in.

"Dude what are you talking about, of course you're joining."

Turning his head so he was looking at the Beastboy directly, Naruto let a bit of steel enter his voice to help get his point across.

"No I'm not, If Gaara wants to he can, but I not. I just want to live a normal life."

Frowning Robin move so he was once again standing in front of the blond teen.

"If you have the power to do so you have a responsibility to the world to help people, you can't be selfish and just sit on the sidelines because you can't be bothered to-!"

The brightly dressed teen was stopped in the middle of his lecture by the sound of Gaara hitting himself in the head with his hand as he continued to back away, slowly making his way to the door and doing his best not to look directly at Naruto while still keeping the whiskered teen in his line of sight.

Before anyone could ask what was wrong the air in the room started to get thicker, slowly making it harder and harder to breath as it felt like a huge weight was being dropped on all their shoulders. All those that had been standing when this started, including Gaara, fell to their knees with wide eyes, not understanding what was happening. Then Naruto stood up, seemingly unaffected by whatever it was that was forcing them all to their knees, his hat shadowing his eyes as he looked down at Robin and at that moment the boy wonder knew, without a doubt, that the blonde teen stood in front of him could kill him without even trying.

Before any of them could ask what was going on Naruto turned and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him, the pressure disappearing a moment later as they all took in deep breaths. They all stayed on the ground for a few minutes, none of them being able to shake the fear that had gripped their harts only a moment ago, before Gaara stood and walked over to Robin.

"You are lucky."

Shakily getting to his feet, not quite able to look the red headed teen in the eye after what had just happened Robin took several deep breathes to help calm his nerves before looked the quiet teen straight in the face.

"What the hell was that?"

Eyes narrowing slightly at the tone, Gaara motioned for Robin and the other Titans, who had all regained some of their composer by now, to sit down before he started talking in a flat, emotionless tone.

"Where we are from certain people are taught special skills, one of the skills we learn is called KI, or Killing Intent, the stronger the person the stronger the KI. What you just felt was Naruto's anger and, if he decided to do so, his conviction to kill you."

The six teens starred at Gaara in complete shock, not sure what to make of his words Naruto had being willing to kill Robin just because of what he said? It didn't match up with what they new of the blonde teen that would come to the tower to hang out and laugh with them. Then again neither did the blonde that single headedly defeat the three Hive students within seconds without seeming to try.

Getting over her shock before the others, Raven reached into a pocket in her cloak and pulled out a piece of paper with a sketch of the leaf she had seen the night before and held it out to Gaara, making a note of how his eyes widened slightly when he saw it.

"What does this mean?"

"It is not my place to say, it is for Uzumaki-san to tell you and I will not betray his trust, I owe him too much. From what he has told me he has been giving you clues in an attempt to let you figurer it out yourself, all I can say is that you need to think back on _everything_ he has told you since you met and eventually the answer will come to you. Unfortunately, because of Robin-san, he is probably back at square one and it will take some time before he is willing to talk about his past again."

Looking up at his name, Robin frowned as he stood up from his seat.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Turning a slight glare on the brightly dressed teen, Gaara shook his head before letting out a sigh.

"Where we are from Naruto was a, as you would put it hero, to some at least, including myself. Unfortunately because of something out of his control, he was also seen as something else. Despite the way he acts Naruto-san has had a hard life, in many ways harder then even my own, and a few years ago something happened. Or a more accurate explanation would be that he discovered something which finally made him reach his breaking point. Instead of becoming a 'Villain', or 'Bad Guy', he left and came here, disillusioned as he called it, with the world and humans as a whole. Since I have been here I have been slowly trying to bring him out of his depression like he did me and now that he has started dating Raven-san I thought I was getting close, but then you had to open your mouth and remind him why he left that life behind in the first place! you have ruined weeks worth of hard work!"

By the end of his rant Gaara was practically shouting, showing the most emotion any of them had ever seen from him since they met and causing them all to stare at him with wide eyes as his words sink into their heads.

XXX

Walking down the corridor with a blank expression on his face as he followed the older man past the cells, Naruto took note of just how may of them seemed to be made to hold particular people, some that seemed to make sense to him and others that just seemed plan wired. They didn't speak as they made their way to the three cells at the end that seemed to have large windows instead of bars on the walls facing the corridor. Inside the three cells were the beaten and bruised teens that the whiskered blonde had knocked out for throwing a car throw his store, each in their own specially designed straight jacket.

Mammoth, the large red headed teen who had thrown the car, had a straight jacket made out of metal, looking more like some kind of ceasing, with steel bolts holing it together. Gizmo, the baby like teen with the fowl mouth, was in a standard white straight jacket and finally Jinx, the pinked haired girl that seemed to be the leader, was held in a jacket covered in four leaf clovers and horse shoes and was surrounded by a circle of salt.

When they saw the blonde looking at them from the other side of the glass, the policeman that had lead him to their cells already walking away, they glared at him with hate filled eyes, though when compared to the looks he had as a child they were tame.

"What the do want, come to gloat?"

Turing to Jinx, his face still expressionless, Naruto leaned against the opposite wall, his hat casting a shadow over the top of his face but leaving his eyes still visible.

"I just paid all your bails and got the police to agree to let you off with 'community serves'."

After taking a moment to get over their shook at his words, the three teens all took on the exact same expression of suspicion at the same time, impressive seeing as they could actually see each others, before Jinx once again addressed Naruto.

"Why would you help us?"

Smirking slightly, Naruto stood back up and walked forward stopping so that he was only a few feet away from her cell.

"Oh don't get me wrong, when I'm done with you you'll probably wish they sent you to prison, but the fact is you three are going to fix my store and work off all the money you now owe me, that's your 'community serves'."

"And why the hell would we do what a crud munching shit face like you tells us to do?"

Turning to face the small teen, Naruto let a too innocent smile cross his face that sent shivers down the spines of the three villains. But a moment later the smile was replaced by a serious expression as the pair of blue eyes took each of them in one by one.

"Tell me something, why are you 'villains'?"

Looking at the blonde in confusion, none of them having expected the question, Jinx answered for all three of them.

"What else _could _we be? Heroes? Mammoth is clumsy and because of his strength he destroys almost everything he touches, Gizmo can make stuff sure, but he needs money to get the materials and equipment to make them and no one is willing to give a teen that looks like a toddler money. As for me, well I'm a _jinx_, I create bad luck wherever I go, what else could I be if not a bad guy?"

Letting a genuine smile cross his face at the answer, Naruto looked each of the three teens in the eye before he spoke again.

"What if I _could_ give you an alternative?"

Chuckling at the confused expressions on their faces, Naruto first turned his attention to Mammoth, the large red head that had thrown the car into his store.

"As you saw earlier I am very strong, despite my looks, and I can teach you how to control your strength so you don't have to worry about hurting people and breaking things all the time.

Seeing the way the giant boys eyes widened at his offer, Naruto next turned his attention to Gizmo.

"Over the last three years I have accumulated a decent sized fortune, most from my dealings in rear book, and am willing to offer you funding for your projects. You will have several restrictions of course and I will want to be kept in the loop for all your projects, but you will for the most part be given free range. If you get to a point in time that you wish to sell any of your inventions I will of course want to who they are and what they want it for, along with 15% of the profit seeing as I will be funding it."

The only reaction he got from his words was a hopeful look hidden behind one of scepticism before he finally turned his attention to the last teen. But before he could even get the first word out Jinx spoke.

"So what are you going to try and offer me? I can tell you now that there isn't any point, you can't change my powers and no one can, I'm _bad_ luck and that's not going to change."

Taking a moment to processes her words, Naruto let another small smile creep onto his face before answering her.

"I can offer you several things actually, starting with a safe place to live and a steady job with good pay, at least after you pay off your debt. Secondly, I can help you to both understand and control your gift. Also, providing my theory is correct; teach you several things about your abilities that you didn't even know."

By the end of his speak Naruto was met with not one, but three stunned faces. Both Mammoth and Gizmo knew how hard it was for Jinx to control her powers, even the slightest thing could throw all her control out the window and there was nothing she could do about it. The idea that the blond in front of them might be able to help her was almost too good to be true.

After several minutes of silence had passed, in which Naruto just stood in the same spot waiting for their response, Jinx managed to choke out one word in little more then a whisper that he almost missed.

"Why?"

Tilting his head up so that they could see his whole face, Naruto gave them a small smile.

"Because no one has ever given any of you a chance before now, and I think it's about time you were."

XXX

By the time Naruto, followed by Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo got back to he store the sun had already set and the Titans had long since left. He walked into his dummy house to find Gaara sat on the couch watching the TV, which was showing a reply of his earlier fight while a reporter gave a running commentary. The moment he heard them the red headed teen turned to look at the four of them and raised his eyebrow in a silent question which Naruto answered as he passed on his way to the end of the hall.

"They will be staying with us for the foreseeable future and will be working off their debt o me by fixing the damage to the store and working here."

The only response his words got from the quiet teen was a nod of the head before asking his next question out loud.

"Are they going to be staying _here _or _there_?"

"There"

While the two were talking the three HIVE students took the opportunity to look around the small flat, all three wondering where they were all going to be staying before they saw Gaara turn off the TV, stand up and follow behind the whiskered blond as he walked to the end of the hall an stood before the wall.

Before any of them could ask what he was doing Naruto pressed his thumb into the tip of his canine until he drew blood and started to draw a circle on the wall in front of him. Not a moment later they were blinded by a bright flash of light and when the spots had cleared from their vision the wall had vanished and they were looking at a long staircase leading underground.

After getting over their shock the three were lead down the staircase, which surprised them with just how long it was and the fact that Mammoth didn't even need to bend down to walk, until the came to another wall at the end and were lead into a large circular room. Turning to look at the three teens Naruto waited a moment to give them a chance to take the room in before coughing into his hand to get their attention.

"We are currently 200 feet below the lowest sewer pipe in Jump city and needless to say I don't want you telling anyone about his place without my permission. The reinforced steel door to your right is off limits and I will warn you only once that there is no point trying to brake in. The next door is my library, again off limits unless I say otherwise. The third leads to several bedrooms, including your own. The one at the end of the corridor is my room and the one with the steel door is Gaara's room. The next room is the kitchen; it has a well stocked pantry inside so you can help yourselves, Mammoth I know because of your size and power you need to eat a lot of food so don't worry and eat as much as you like. The next room used to be the pantry but is now a storage room for several things from mine and Gaara's homes; you can enter but don't touch anything unless we say otherwise. The room next to that is Gaara's hobby room, you will have to ask him if you want to enter and the door next to that is the gym. Then we have the living room and last three doors lead to the training rooms. Each has a corridor with five doors and behind each door is a specific training room."

The three teens just looked at him with wide eyes, not sure what to say. After several minutes of them just staring at him, Naruto chuckled before motioning for them to follow him to the rooms. When they reached Gaara's room Naruto stopped and pointed to the red and green lights he had added after the first test.

"Only open the door if the light is green, if it's red stay away."

Raising an eyebrow Jinx leaned forward to examine the door more closely before looking to the blonde and red head.

"Why not?"

Looking to his friend, Naruto nodded for him to explain.

"If the light is red it means I am asleep and if you open the door you break the...circuit...that keeps it secure. If the door is opened while I am still asleep something very bad will happen."

Before they had a chance to ask for more details Naruto moved on before opening three doors and pointing to them.

"All the rooms except Gaara's are basically the same, so it doesn't really matter which you choose. You can personalise them however you want and each room has its own bathroom. Tomorrow you will start fixing the damage you caused to my store and in the afternoon we can make a start on the things I promised you."

Nodding their heads the three teens each moved to a room before closing the door and leaving the two ex-ninja in the corridor. For several minutes neither spoke, just looking at each other in silences before Gaara finally spoke.

"Are you sure we can trust them? This is the first time you brought someone other then me here."

Laying a hand on the red headed teens shoulder, Naruto gave hi a small smile before turning to his door.

"You'd be surprised at what can happen if you give someone a chance; after all, that's what I did for you."

Without another word Naruto walked into his room and closed the door behind him.

XXX

The next day Naruto got up at five am, put on a sleeveless shirt and sweatpants, tied some bandages around his hands and feet before making his way to the gym. The moment he entered the room he reached for the control on the table next to the door and turned on the music, the room being filled by the sound of 'Bring me to life' by Evanescence before starting his workout.

It was an hour later that he heard the door opening and looked out of the corner of his eye to find Jinx watching him from next to the door. She was already dressed in her usual black dress and her hair was style into its customary horn like appearance. After about a minuet passed and she still didn't say anything he turned his attention back to the task at hand.

When he was finished his workout Naruto turned off the music and picked up a hand towel to wipe the sweat off his head. Taking a drink from the water bottle he had brought with him the blond turned his attention back to the pink haired teen whose eyes seemed to be glued to his chest. Coughing to get her attention, Naruto smiled and walked over to talk.

"Good morning Jinx-san, you're up early."

"Says the one up before me?"

Chuckling Naruto made his way into the main room and was about to go have a shower before he was stopped by Jinx's next words.

"What did you mean yesterday when you said you might be able to explain some things about my powers?"

Slowly turning to face her, Naruto was slightly caught off guard at the desperate look on her face. Letting out a sigh, the blonde asked a question that left the girl confused.

"Do you have a twin brother or sister?"

"...no"

Nodding his head, Naruto turned to look at her fully before continuing.

"The thing about powers like yours is that they must always have a balance, if they didn't it would throw off the natural order of things and the world would be thrown into chaos. I have read about your powers in several books, it is call 'Law magic', or at least a branch of it. 'Law magic' is where the user controls a fundamental law of nature, such as gravity or even time, but with the exception of twins the user has the power over the corresponding Law. You control bad luck, which means that if you don't have a twin you also have the ability to control good luck. It's the only way to keep the balance."

For the next few minutes Jinx just stared at the blond with wide, unbelieving eyes. She couldn't believe what she had just been told. For years Jinx had searched for information about her powers, hoping to find answers to what she could do, and here Naruto was talking about the things she had only dreamed of like it was no more important ten talking about the weather.

With a small smile on his face, Naruto walked passed the pink haired teen and went to have a shower, leaving the girl to her thoughts.

XXX

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)**

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**R&R:)**


	8. Grey Area

**Because the last chapter took so long to finish and was shorter then normal I decided to make this one longer then it was going to be :)**

**Just straightening a few things out, first this is not a harem fic, I have no problem with them and have seen several that are good, but I don't think I can right one effectively so I don't. Second, although it looks like I am bashing Robin it is not meant to be that way, I am just writing what I think would be his reaction to things, in later chapters he will mellow out a bit but until then please don't misunderstand.**

**Also the reason for why Naruto is so smart will be explained in greater detail in later chapters, just to let you know before you start reading :)**

**Also I added a poll on my profile; please check it out if you haven't already :)**

**One last thing, for those of you that like a bit of action there is quiet a lot of fighting in this chapter :)**

******(Just went though and fix as much as I could of the misteaks) :)**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

XXX

Chapter 8- Grey Area

After his shower Naruto made his way to the kitchen, unlocking Gaara's door as he passed when he saw the green light, to get started on breakfast. One of the first things he learned after the red head had moved in was that the boy had next to no skill in cooking, which basically left the job up to him because after the first night he had been able to get to sleep Naruto had also learned that Gaara was _not_ a morning person.

The kitchen was a decent size, with a large round table in the middle of the room for eating at that could probably seat twenty, with counters, ovens and just about everything else you would need to cook with lining the edge of the room making it look like the sort of kitchen you would see at an expensive restaurant.

By the time the others were up and had entered the room they were greeted by the sight of a blonde blur speeding around the room as he prepared the food, the only one that wasn't shocked was Gaara because of a mix between having seen this before and being to distracted by getting his morning coffee to care. Within minutes of them entering the room the table was piled high with pancakes, eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, cereal, fruit and a few things they didn't even recognise.

Seeing the three stood staring at the table in shock Naruto chuckled.

"Take a seat and help yourselves."

Doing as they were told, the shocked expressions still on their faces, the teens started to eat and after the first mouthful Mammoth was shovelling it in by the handful as if he was scared it was going to disappear. As he was eating his own breakfast Naruto could be seen writing in a small notebook set on the table next to him as he watched the large teen eat, making a note of both the amount of food he consumed, what he eat most of and any other information he thought might be useful.

Seeing this Gizmo leaned over to look at what the blonde was doing and after finishing his mouthful of bacon spoke.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The blonde teen didn't even look up from his notes as he answered.

"I'm making a note of the amount of food Mammoth eats and what he eats the most of. For example he etas a lot of meat but hasn't touched any of the fruit, that means is body craves protein which is more then likely related to his powers. The fact that he needs to eat so much is an indicator of a faster then average metabolism, meaning his body burns through the energy from the food quickly."

Frowning slightly at the explanation, the small teen took a moment to think about what the whisked blonde had said before turning to look at him again with a nervous expression on his face.

"The way you explain it sounds like Mammoth is weak from hunger most of the time."

"He most likely is"

At his words all three of the HIVE students stopped eating and started at him, in Mammoth's case with a full mouth of food, as if he had lost his mind while both Naruto and Gaara carried on eating as is nothing was happening. The silence was finally broken a minute later when Gizmo summed up the threes thoughts in just three words.

"HOLY SHIT FUCKER!"

Chuckling at there reaction Naruto finally looked up from his notes and smiled at the larger teen as he went into more detail.

"You are strong and have a large body type, there is no denying that, but from what I have seen over the last few minutes it is likely that your body need at least, from my first calculations, five times the calories a 'normal' person does. With time I should be able to make something similar to an energy bar that you can use to help balance it but the fact is at the moment you are only able to use a fraction of your full strength."

The only response he got was a slightly blank look from the larger teen, which prompted him to make several more notes in his book before closing it and standing up from the table, Gaara doing the same before moving to the sink to start on the dishes.

"I'll explain it better for you later when we talk, for now its time you start fixing the hole in my shop."

XXX

By the time lunch arrived the three teens had actually made a lot of progress with the repairs, between Mammoth's strength, Gizmos brain and Jinx's leadership they had cleared all the rubble in no time and had already started on rebuilding the wall. They had gotten quite a few odd looks from people passing by, and the reporters seemed to be having a field day, but for the most part they were left alone out of fear.

With the shop closed while it was being repaired Naruto had Gaara watching the three HIVE students. It wasn't that he didn't trust them; after all he gave each of them a reason to stay, pulse the seals he had put on the back of their cloths didn't hurt. The idea was simple enough, if they moved more then a hundred feet away from the centre seal, which Gaara had, a small electrical charge would be sent into their muscle tissue and would stop them from moving. He had told them this, though avoided telling them about seals exactly, so they understood that there was no point in trying to run even if they wanted to.

While they were working Naruto and two clones had started to work on adding a workshop for Gizmo and a specialised training room for Mammoth. Luckily with the earth Jutsu he had learned from the scrolls his 'father' left him and the use of mass shadow clones for training it was a simple matter to manipulate the earth into what he needed. Gizmo's new workshop was a large circular room with four metal desks he had retrieved from one of his sealing scrolls and a few basic tools like screwdrivers and hammers. He would ask the small teen for a list of materials later.

Mammoths training room was a lot harder to make. Because of the teens power things like weights would be all but useless, so he was using the two clones to help him apply gravity seals to every surface in the room so that when it was done he would be able to adjust the room's gravity. This would put strain on even the large teen's muscles and when he was done he added a few reinforcement seals on some weights so they wouldn't be affected by the increase in gravity and put them in the room. He also added a 'control room' that wasn't effected by the gravity seals, with a large widow inside so he could observe and alter the seals in the room where needed and the equivalent of an emergency stop button inside the room, the control room and outside the room that didn't need chakra to be activated.

That was also one of the things he had learned in the three years since he arrived in this worlds, combining seals with science. They couldn't be used for anything too complicated because for some reason it made things explode, but after three years of trail and error he was able to incorporate things like buttons into a seal matrix that didn't need chakra to use. It was also how he was able to add the red and green light system to Gaara's room and had been able to make it so they ran off of the excess energy that was created by converting demonic chakra into nature chakra.

The control panel that he would use to control the seals was actually just a table with seals engraved on it that he had connected to the ones in the room.

He couldn't help but laugh when he saw the their faces when Gaara brought them back down for lunch, the sudden appearance of another door next to Gaara's hobby room seeming to unnerve them slightly. Not that he could blame them, in the Elemental Nations things like that were considered the norm, almost anything could be accomplished with the uses of jutsu. But in this world, even with people having a wide range of powers and abilities, things were different and they were used to the idea that things like building rooms took time.

After lunch, in which Naruto made more notes of what Mammoth eat, the blonde teen showed Gizmo his new workshop and told him to make a list of the things he would need for his projects. The moment the words left his lips the little genius was practically jumping off the walls in excitement and thinking out loud about all the things he would need and be able to make, he was talking so fast Naruto couldn't even understand most of what he was saying and in the end he left the boy in the workshop to make the list.

When he went to show Mammoth his training room both Gaara and Jinx came with them, interested to find out what the blond had made for the gigantic red head. After leading both spectators into the control room, making sure to tell them not to touch anything, Naruto had Mammoth stand in the middle of the room before walking to a wall and pressing a big green button that was next to the emergency stop, a large red one.

The seals around the room lit up, starting with the ones around the button and snaking their way to the others, filling the room with a bright blue light. The moment the last seal lit Mammoth fell to his keens with a grunt, his long red hair seeming to glue itself to his frame. Both Jinx and Gaara watched as Naruto slowly made his way over to the larger teen, seemingly unaffected by the gravity, before stopping in front of the kneeing boy.

"This is a gravity room, at this very moment the gravity in here is three times earth's natural gravity. I want you to spend at least one hour in here a day, using the weights while the gravity is higher and when you adjust to this level I will increase it."

Looking at the whiskered teen, though he seemed to have trouble doing it because of the increase in weight, Mammoth gave him a confused look.

"I thought you were going to help me control my strength, not increase it?"

"I am, but first I need to learn your limits, if I taught you to control your strength now it would be a problem later when it increases, the more I understand your power the more I can help. Plus until now your strength has come from your powers and unlike most people you haven't needed to work for it. By training in this room everything you do will put strain on your muscle and unlike your strength that you always have this will be natural which means it will be easier for you to understand and control."

"Is that what you did?"

Smiling, Naruto shook his head in the negative.

"No, my strength is the result of intense training; all of what I do is learned."

Turning his back to the boy, Naruto walked back to the wall and hit the red button, deactivating the seals and nodding to Gaara and Jinx to let them know it was ok to come out. They left Mammoth in the room after a quick explanation on how to use it, and the three teens moved to the main room again. Letting out a sigh, Naruto turned his attention to Jinx. She was going to be the hardest to help out of the three, her powers being an actually force of nature making it harder to understand.

Law magic was a lot like elemental magic, though depending on the Law they had the potential to be a lot stronger, the user was born with it and would be trained by family in how to use it from a young age, unfortunately it seemed Jinx had the same problem as Terra in that she didn't have any family that could teach her. This resulted in her powers being used completely by instinct and with next to no control, which assuming she didn't have a long lost twin meant that the first time she used her powers it was while she was feeling negative emotions such as fear or anger and it had manifested as bad luck. Again assuming that she was an only child this meant that if she had first used her powers while in a positive frame of mind they would have manifested as good luck instead.

Luckily this time Naruto didn't have the voice of a screaming girl that had been turned to stone inside his head which meant he was able to create a group of ten shadow clones last night and after everyone was asleep let them into his Vault, as he had started calling it. They did all research for him and when they were done he had them make a book similar to the one he had made for Terra.

After telling the two to wait for him, Naruto quickly went to his room and returned with a large, leather bound book in his hands that was more then twice the size of the book he made for Terra. Unlike the one he had made on Earth elementals the cover for this one was black, with the exception of an odd symbol imprinted on the cover in gold. It looked like a triangle with a straight line balanced on the end with two smaller triangles on both ends of the line. Handing the book to the pink haired girl, who just looked at it with a raised eyebrow, Naruto just smiled and pointed to the symbol on the cover.

"This is the symbol of Law magic, unwavering balance."

Her eyes widening at his words, Jinx quickly turned to the first page to see the same symbol with the words 'Law Magic' above it and Naruto's name under it proclaiming him the author, all of which was in gold. When she turned to the next page her eyes almost popped out if her head as she read the Index.

_Chapter 1- The History of Law Magic _

_Chapter 2- What is Law Magic_

_Chapter 3- The Importance and Meaning of the 'Natural Balance'_

_Chapter 4- Why Does Law Magic Exist_

_Chapter 5- The Different Branches of Law Magic_

_Chapter 6- How to Channel Your Energy and What Effects Being a Twin has on Your Power_

_Chapter 7-How Your Emotions can Affect Your Control_

_Chapter 8- How Outside Influence can Affect Your Control_

_Chapter 9- The Importance of Understanding Your Strengths and Weaknesses_

_Chapter 10- An Introduction in the Manipulation of Law Magic_

_Chapter 11- Level 1 Manipulation_

_Chapter 12- Level 2 Manipulation_

_Chapter 13- Level 3 Manipulation_

_Chapter 14- Advanced Manipulation_

_Chapter 15- How to Discover the Most Effective Way to Fight With Your Law Magic_

_Chapter 16- How to Discover the Most Effective Way to Defend With Your Law Magic_

_Chapter 17- Personalising you Law Magic Style_

_Chapter 18- Other Facts You May Need to Know_

After reading the index Jinx quickly flipped through several pages, taking note of the charcoal sketches and perfect handwriting. Everything about the book seemed perfect, even the paper that was used was expensive and of the highest quality. Looking up at the blonde, Jinx threw herself at him and pulled Naruto into a one armed hug, the other holing the book to her side, before running off toward the living room to start reading.

When the door was closed Gaara turned to look at Naruto with his usual blank expression on his face.

"You do realise that you just gave away a lot of valuable information that could be used against us in the future."

"Yeah, but she has a right to that information and I didn't want to withhold it from her, I guess because of all the things that were hidden from me, I don't like the idea of not giving people information that they have a right to."

After taking a moment to consider his friends words, Gaara nodded his head before walking to his hobby room and locking the door behind him. Not a minute late Gizmo came running out of his workshop with a long list of things he would need trailing on the floor behind him.

XXX

Ever since they had returned to Titan Tower Raven had locked herself in her room, ignoring her friends when they came and knocked on her door several times throughout the day, and spent the entire time thinking about what Gaara had said, was Naruto really giving her clues? She thought about every conversation they had had and every word he had said but no matter how hard she tried it just didn't make any sense. The most she had learned about him was that he was Japanese, an orphan, he lived in a village call Konoha before moving to Jump city and that it was basically run by a dictatorship with a heavy military background. Did that mean Naruto was a trained solider? But that was impossible; he would have been only thirteen when he first moved to the city, which would mean he would have been trained since he was a kid. Then there was that word, Jinchuriki. 'The Power of Human Sacrifice', just the idea that sentence brought to mind sent a shiver down her spine. Was Naruto meant to be a human sacrifice only to run away before it happened? And if so what for? From the way he described his home she new he had no attachment to it, if anything he sounded like he hated it, especially when he was talking about the people that lived there.

Then there was Gaara, the quite red head with the scar seemingly carved into his forehead. What did he have to do with it all? He acted more like a robot at times then Cyborg, his face almost always completely lacking any and all emotion, and from what he had told them he had a bad past and had killed people before meeting Naruto. He had apparently even tried to kill Naruto, but failed. Gaara was strong, with his ability to control sand he could be a terrifying opponent, especially if he wasn't sane at the time. But Naruto had won, did that mean he was stronger then Gaara? Just how strong is he really?

She spent hour after hour thinking over all this, even spending time talking to her emotions in an attempt to make any sense out of it all. But in the end it came down to one thing, and she was a little upset that it had taken her so long to realise it. She didn't care. Of course Raven wanted to know, but more then anything she wanted Naruto to tell her himself, to trust her enough to tell her. But after spending time talking to her emotions all of which were in agreement about the blonde, a rare thing indeed, she realised that she really liked the whiskered idiot.

He was smart, charming, funny, hansom and so much more. He made her laugh, even if not on the outside, and they got along so well. It wasn't love, at least not yet, but she knew that given time it might lead to it and the thought both terrified and thrilled her to her very core.

Now the only problem was Robin.

Raven didn't blame him for the way he acted, he was just worried about them, but the fact was that he did have a tendency to go a _little_ overbroad. If anything she blamed Batman for training him to be so paranoid. She knew that the next time Naruto and Robin met it would result in one of two things happening. Robin would apologise and try and talk to him, most likely try again to recruit him, or they would fight and from what she had seen of the way Naruto had dealt with Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo, Robin might actually end up in the hospital.

Taking a deep breath the purple haired girl braced herself for what was to come before leaving her room and making her way to the common room to see her fiends watching the TV. All but Robin had a confused look on their face, the boy wonder having a small frown on his as they watched a video of Mammoth, Jinx and Gizmo clearing rubble from outside Narutos book store under the watchful eyes of Gaara.

Walking over to stand next to Robin, she couldn't help the feeling a dread that twisted in her stomach when he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, well mask really, and said two words.

"Call him"

Not even bothering to argue with him, Raven pulled out her phone and pulled up Naruto's number, hesitating for a moment before hitting the call button. It rang three times before he answered.

"Hello?"

"Naruto...it's Raven."

"Raven-chan! Nice to hear from you. So what's up?"

"I...I need you to come to the Tower as soon as possible."

"...Traffic light-san?"

"...Yeah..."

"I'll be right there"

Before she could say anything else he hung up and, not even having the time to take the phone away from her ear, the sound of the door bell rang throughout the tower almost ominously and without a word all six teens made their way to the door in complete silence, each shearing uncertain looks as they saw the stern expression on Robins face. When they opened the door it was to the sight of Naruto leaning against the wall, as if noting was out of the ordinary. Without a word Robin turned his back on the blonde and made his way to the training room in a large cavern under the Tower, the blonde teen following behind after nodding to the others and resting a hand on Ravens shoulder in a comforting manner.

When they got to the centre of the room the boy wonder turned around to lock eyes with Naruto, who had his hands in his pockets.

"Why are Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo out of prison and fixing your store?"

"Straight to the point, fair enough, it's because I paid their bail and talked the police into giving them community service. When they finish fixing the damage to my store they will be working off the money that they own me and after that I have offered them the chance to live with me and Gaara so I can help them with some other things."

"Why?"

"...Have you ever asked them why they became villains in the first place, because I have. They didn't have a mentor that could train them or look after them, they were considered outcastes because of the things they could do and because of that they ended up going to the wrong person for help. I offered to help them because no one else ever did."

His frown increasing at his words, Robin moved himself into a loose fighting stance.

"Their criminals, they don't deserve a second chance! They deserve to be behind bars!"

Letting out a sigh, Naruto looked to Robin with a mixture of disappointment and...boredom? In his eyes, as he pulled his hands out of his pockets. Not giving the blonde a chance to make the first move, having seen just how fast he could be, Robin jumped forward to close the distance and attempted to kick him in the head with his left foot. He didn't know how it happened, not having even seen Naruto move, but just before his foot made contact with the blondes cheek the kick was stopped by Naruto grabbing hold of his ankle in a vice like grip. Quickly lifting his right leg into the air and planted it on the blonde's chest in an attempt to break the hold and put some distance between them again, only for him to fall to the ground when it didn't work.

Shaking his head, Naruto throw Robin back to where he started with a small frown on his face.

"You broadcast your moves and it makes you easily to predict, you need to work on your style and maybe your speed a little more."

"Shut up!"

This time when the boy wonder charged he aimed a punch for Narutos stomach, which was deflected by the blondes arm, and followed it up with a spinning kick indented for his side which was blocked again. Growling at his lack of successes Robin let loose a quick flurry of punches aimed at random places in the hope of hitting the whiskered teen, but no matter how hard he tried or how fast he moved everything was either blocked or dodged with ease, making it even more frustrating. It didn't help that Naruto kept commentating on every move he made.

"You need more power behind your strikes, make sure your feet are spread out evenly so you can put more weight behind them. Don't make too many unnecessary movements, it wastes energy and will tire you out faster, don't forget to time your breathing."

The other Titans just stood to one side, their eyes wide as they watched Robin being completely outclassed by the blonde, who was apparently giving him tips even as they were fighting.

After another five minutes of Naruto staying on the defensive as he picked apart Robins fighting style, the blonde ex-ninja finally decides to switch to offense. Catching the boy's wrist as he attempted another punch him in the ribs, Naruto pulled him forwards, causing the brightly dressed teen to lose his balance, before landing a soiled punch into his stomach. Letting out a gasp as spite flew out of his mouth, Robin tried to back away so he could regain his breath but Naruto followed, not giving him a chance, and kicked him in the right side of his ribs.

It was at that point that Robin realised something, he had seen a video of Naruto kicking Mammoth of all people threw a wall with next to no effort, yet the blows that had hit him were no different to a normal person. Naruto was holding back, a _lot_, and the realisation made him lose what was left of his self control as he charged at the blonde blindly. But before he even had a chance to throw a punch Naruto swiped his feet out from under him and, while he was still in the air, followed through with a kick to the stomach that sent him flying across the room before he landed in front of his friend, who just stared at what had happened with wide eyes. Throughout the whole fight the blonde hadn't lost the board expression on his face.

After straitening his shirt, which had gotten ruffled up during the fight, Naruto casually made his way over to the downed form of Robin, a neutral expression on his whiskered face before standing over the teen and looking him in the eye.

"Your good, but still ruff around the edges. You also need to keep your temper under control, the longer the fight went on the sloppier your style became until you were little more then a brawler."

Taking in huge gulps of air in an attempt to get his breath back, Starfire having knelt down next to him to make sure he was ok, Robin glared up at the blonde.

"You don't...know anything...about...me!"

"Bothersome...You're right handed but taught yourself to be ambidextrous; you favour your right leg a little more hen your left but when you need to use it that disappears, most likely due to an old, traumatic injury leaving a psychological scar. You were trained by a man that uses his dark clothes to help him fight at night yet you wear bright colures that attract attention, meaning that although you were trained by Batman, you want to be seen as separate from him. Despite what most people think the bright colures help in your fighting style, which relies on your speed and acrobatics, because they can confuse your opponent as long as you are faster then them. You see your teem as family and go to over bearing lengths to protect them yet the fact you never take off your mask around them means you don't completely trust them and keep everyone around you at arms length, most like because of a traumatic event, probably the same one wear you injured your leg considering your inability let it go, that caused you to lose at least one if not more people that were important to you. Taking into account the fact that you became the 'Boy Wonder' at such a young age means that it was most likely your family that died and probably at the hands of one of Gotham's many 'Super Villains', explaining why you became a 'Hero' in the first place. You suffer from paranoia and an almost compulsive need to control everything in your life and have a very strong view of right and wrong in which there is no 'grey area', a childish view that you need to grow out of if you plan on being a hero for the rest of your life."

If they hadn't already being staring at him in complete shock because of the fight, the Titans would have been now. Naruto knew more about Robin then any of them did and it sounded like he had learnt half of it from the fight they had had not two minutes before. What the blonde just did scared them, especially Robin, who looked like a dear caught in headlights.

"H-how did you-?"

"How did I know? Because it's what I was trained to do, what I needed to learn in order to survive. I was raised in a place that lived in the 'Grey', where good and evil was rarely a clear line and those that believed it was...didn't last long. You wanted to know why I gave those three a second chance, it's because everyone, no matter what they have done in the passed, deserve at least that."

Walking towards the door Naruto stopped to give a quick hug to Raven, who returned it on instinct, before leaving. The room became completely silent as they all thought over what he had said, Robin not being able to look any of his friends in the eye. After a few minutes passed they all made their way out of the room except Raven, who stayed behind to think more on what had just happened.

Naruto had said that he was _trained_ to do what he did with Robin, did that mean she was right the first time and he really was a 'super solider' trained from birth. Was that what being a Jinchuriki meant? Was it the name of a child that was trained from a young age? For some reason she didn't think that was it, at least not exactly, but the idea that the blonde might be a trained killer worried her. He had said that he was raised in the 'Grey' area of right and wrong and that he needed to learn of to fight in order to survive and that could only mean one thing. What about Gaara, was he a solider too? Only he wasn't able to take the pressure and snapped? Was that why he had trouble showing emotions?

Nothing made sense and Raven had a feeling that the only way it would was when, or if, Naruto finally told her the truth himself. But before she could think on it any more the alarm went off and she had to rush to the common room to see what was happening.

When she arrived the others were already there watching as Robin, who seemed to be perfectly fine now if a little bruised, quickly typed on his keyboard. Before she could ask what was happening the boy wonder stood up and spoke.

"There are reports of some kind of fight happening in the middle of the city between meta-humans, Titans Go!"

XXX

After using the Hiraishin to get off of the island that Titan Tower was built on Naruto decided to walk home instead of just transporting all the way, using the time it would take to get there to think. His fight with Robin had surprised him, not because he wasn't expecting it, but because he wasn't the one fighting the boy. Normally when it came to fighting Wrath would influence his behaviour, making him more aggressive and, though he didn't like to admit it, stronger. But for some reason it didn't happen this time because before the fight had even began Sloth had taken over, forcing his mind into an odd sense of calm that he didn't usually have in a fight.

Letting his mind run on autopilot as he walked through the city, Naruto sent a mental message to the lazy sin that he wanted to talk. It wasn't until five minutes later that he finally got a response.

"_Bothersome...what do you want? I was taking a nap._"

The response just made the blonde roll his eyes.

"_Why did you interferer back at the tower? Normally you would have just slept through the whole thing._"

Hearing a worn out sigh in his head, as if the fact that he was asking why the sin had taken over his body was a pointless question, he felt the mental equivalent of a shrug.

"_If I let Wrath do his usual thing then you would have put the kid in the hospital and it would have upset you girlfriend, so I beat him to it._"

For a few seconds Naruto didn't now how to respond, he just stared ahead, blinking.

"_Erm...thanks, I guess_"

"_Whatever_"

His head now quiet, at least for him, Naruto continued his walk as he thought about what had just happened. In fact he was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost missed the ten kunai that were flying towards him from one of the roofs to his right. Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Naruto flipped forward just in time as the throwing blades sunk into the ground where he had been standing not a second before. Narrowing his eyes, the blonde teen followed their path to the roof of one of the buildings, ignore the crowd that was gathering to see what was going on, and couldn't help the smirk that slipped onto his lips. Standing on the building were three dark figures dressed in identical black cloaks with the hoods pulled up to cover their hair and blank white ANBU masks to hide their faces from view. He had been expecting his old friends to make a move at some point, though he thought he had more time before they did and that they wouldn't have the nerve to challenge him in broad day light in public, but at this point he really didn't care.

His smirk turning into a full blown grin Naruto decided to throw causation to the wind and, after throwing his jacket and white shirt to one side leaving him in a black muscle shirt, showing the numerous scars on his arms, raised a hand and gave the three figures the finger.

Faster then anyone in the crowd could see the three men disappeared from the roof top and were suddenly in the middle of the road, facing the whiskered blonde in a triangle formation with the tallest of the three stood at the front. He took a small step forward; separating himself from the other two even further before talking in a voice Naruto knew all to well.

"This is your last chance Naruto, come with us peacefully and save yourself some pain, we don't want to hurt you."

Bending his legs slightly so that he was in a ready stance, Naruto tilted his head to one side as he stared at Kakashi with a small smirk that reminded the three of a certain Uchiha in his youth.

"That's a shame, because I could use a workout. Though three against one isn't really fair, maybe you should go and get the rest of your team..._Inu-san_."

Kakashi stiffened at the mention of his ANBU name, for more then one reason, though the other two didn't know that and after a moment had passed, the crowd around them steadily growing bigger and bigger, the jonin stepped back into formation before nodding his head.

"So be it"

Without warning the cloaked figure on Kakashi's right ran forward, his form turning into little more then a blur as it ran straight at the blonde before jumping in the air a few feet away, spinning, and attempting to kick the whiskered teen in the head, only to be blocked by Naruto's forearm. The moment the two connected a small shockwave was released, not enough to effect either of the two but more then enough to knock a few of the civilians away. The moment they realised that this was a fight between people with powers the crowd scattered, some screaming as they went, though some stayed to watch from a distance.

Locking eyes with his opponent through the eye holes of his mask, Naruto's smile grew slightly as he whispered so that no one else could hear.

"You've improved Lee, you're stronger, but it's not enough."

Leaping back so that he was several feet away, the now identified Lee got into the first stance of his style before replying.

"Then I will have to step it up a little more!"

Closing the distance between them again Lee aimed another kick at the blonde's mid-section which was blocked yet again, however unlike last time where it ended in a stalemate, this kick was stronger and even though he was able to block it, Naruto wasn't able to stop himself skidding back several feet. Not giving the blonde a chance to get his bearings Lee followed up with two more kicks, one at his shoulder and the other at his stomach, both were blocked, but both sent him several more steps back, before he made an attempt to sweep his legs out from under him.

Jumping over the outstretched leg and landing in a handstand Naruto spun on his hands and, catching Lee by surprise, kicked him in the side of the head as he stood back up. The kick knocked him off balance and before he knew what was happening Naruto had jumped back into the air and kicked him in the chest with both feet at the same time, the force of the kick sending his opponent back to where he had been stood before they started to fight. Quickly flipping back to his feet, Naruto had just enough time to realise that one of his opponents was missing, right before two hands burst from the ground, only to grasp at thin air as the blond pulled his legs into the air with his knees to his chest before slamming them into the group with enough force to shatter the pavement. Moments later the two hands reappeared out of the ground between the other two cloaked figures, followed by a head and body as Kakashi pulled his out of the ground.

For a moment nothing happened, both sides staring at each other as they waited for the other to make the next move. Naruto made sure to keep an eye on the one opponent that head yet to attack, them being the only one he was yet to identify, thus making them the most dangerous at the present moment in time. He doubted it was Ino or Hinata, Ino had already proven ineffective against him, and Hinata was not a fighter at heart, so both were out. Sakura was unlikely too, seeing as after her training with Tsunade she had become a close range fighter and would have attacked him with Lee in an attempt to overwhelm him.

That left Sasuke or Shikamaru as his prim suspects.

The fact that he had only watched so far made him lean slightly closer to it being Shikamaru, the lazy but brilliant Nara being the most likely to stay back to plan out everything before making his move. However at the same time it could be Sasuke pretending to be Shikamaru in order to surprise him, it definitely sounded like a plan the pineapple head would come up with.

Before he could think on it any more his thoughts were interrupted when both Kakashi and Lee charged at him at the same time, his old sensei aiming to swipe his legs out from under him while the bowl haired teen aimed a kick at his chest. Crouching down on one knee, Naruto ducked under Lee's kick while blocking Kakashi's leg by pinning it to the ground with his hand. Before either could react the blonde teen flipped himself into a hand stand and brought his foot down of the back of Lee's head, causing him to face plant into the pavement. Pulling his leg out from Naruto's grip Kakashi quickly sped through hand seals before putting one hand where his mouth would be under the mask.

"Water style: Water Bullet Technique!"

The projectile hit the blonde in the centre of his chest, knocking him off his feet and the wind from his body. He landed on the ground gasping for breath about ten feet away from where he had been standing, and before he was able to regain his breath Naruto was forced to roll out of the way as Kakashi attempted to stomp on his head, his feet leaving creaks in the ground when it missed. He kept rolling for several feet, Kakashi following him and attempting to stomp on him again and again, until the blonde regained his bearings and, planting his hands on the ground, swivelled around and knocked the older mans feet out from ender him. When he hit the floor Naruto lifted up his left foot and brought his heel down on the silvered haired jonin's chest, hearing a satisfying crunch as several of the mans ribs broke under the force.

Not giving himself time to celebrate the small victory, Naruto leapt to his feet and, taking advantage of Kakashi's and Lee's momentarily weakened state, charged straight at the third figure, who was still yet to move. Pulling his fist back Naruto punched the figure in the face, cracking the mask in the process. Out of the corner of his eye he had just enough time to see the Titans arriving, his eyes locking with Ravens, right before the figure in front of him exploded. The ground shook from the force, the sound of glass shattering from the shockwave as a small mushroom cloud of smoke shot into the air and covered most of the street, obscuring it from view. The few people that had stayed to watch the fight ran, screaming as they went.

Raven and the other Titans could only look on with shocked expressions on their faces at the sight before them. They couldn't see what had happened to Naruto, but the fact he had been right at the centre of the explosion could only mean he was dead. Another thing that shocked them was the fact that one of the people he had been fighting had actually blown themselves up! What had the blonde done that had inspired such commitment to end his life?

It was then that Robin saw the other two cloaked figures getting back up, although slowly, and stood on the edge of the smoke as if waiting for something. One of the two's masks was broken on the top right side, leaving a single black eye in view, and the other seemed to be holding there side in obvious pain.

The brightly dressed teen was about to demand they surrender when an all to familiar, at least by this point, sensation hit him and the others as they were all forced to their knees as the air grew think and a feeling of absolute terror smacked into them like a brick wall. He had just enough time to take note of the fact that the two figures, although staggering a little when the sensation first hit, didn't fall to the ground.

Without warning a strong wind that seemed to burst out of the centre of the smoke kicked up and blew it away to reveal Naruto stood in the middle of the road. His shirt was completely destroyed, his pants were in shreds and what could be seen of his skin was covered in burns and patches of his hair had been burned off, his hat destroyed by the explosion. His right arm hung limply at his side and the hand was little more then a black husk of chard meat, a small trail of blood dripping from it to the ground.

The fact he was still standing was almost as shocking as the fact he was still alive to the Titans.

Suddenly without warning the blondes body stiffened before his back arched backwards to a painful degree as his mouth open wide into a soundless scream, his knees almost buckling in the process. It started slowly at first, the smallest of the cuts and burns on his skin shrinking, small whips of steam coming off of them as they closed with a lo hissing sound. Then it got faster, his hair started growing back, and the burns on his chest healed in a matter of seconds. It was at this point that his scream became vocal, echoing around the street as his arm and hand healed. Just as suddenly as it had started the healing stopped, leaving the blondes in the same condition he had been in before the explosion, minus his shirt.

That was when the Titans got their first look at his chest, or more specifically the large, fist sized scar right next to his heart.

However for Kakashi and Lee, who had a clear view of Naruto's back, they saw something that both confused worried the older jonin more then the fact that Naruto had just healed himself before their eyes, even if the explosion wasn't supposed to do that much damage. On either side of the teens spine were six kanji, one fore each of the hand seals used for jutsu inside a circle. In the centre of his back were three more circles in a triangle formation, one with the kanji for Wind, one with the kanji for Water and the last with the kanji for Lighting, witch were connected to each other and the twelve others on his back by curved lines.

Standing up strait, his breathing heavier then normal, Naruto let his KI fade and turned to his old comrades, his eyes alight with barely controlled furry that was so intense it actually made them take a step back. The next words he spoke filling the veins of all that heard him with ice.

"I'm surprised at you, Inu-san. That explosion was set to kill, and here I thought you were supposed to take me alive. Well, I guess if you're not holding back...neither should I."

His eyes widening beneath his mask, Kakashi quickly stepped forward with his hands held in front of him in an attempt to calm his ex-student down.

"It wasn't like that Naruto; it wasn't supposed to be that strong!"

Unfortunately for the two injured Leaf-nin the blonde wasn't listening. From there possession behind Blonde the Titans watched as several of the tattoos, at least that's what they assumed they were, on either side of Narutos spine started lighting up in a seemingly random sequence before ending with the Kanji for Wind. Putting both hands to his mouth, Naruto took in a deep breath before shouting out his technique.

"Wind Style: Concussive Force Technique!"

XXX

**Hope you like the chapter :)**

**Just a little head up, Sloth is only part of the reason Naruto is so smart, after all he can only be as smart as Naruto in the end, but it will all be explained in later chapters :)**

**R&R :)**


	9. NOT a Morning Person

**I seem to be on a roll with this fic at the moment so I'm going to keep going while it's in my head :)**

**Thank you to everyone that voted on the poll, it is pretty clear at this point that the majority want no, so I will be taking it down shortly after posting this chapter.**

**Before you read this chapter I will say that you need to remember that the Titans now know that he has abilities, so he won't be trying to hide them as much as before.**

**Also I went back and fixed what I could of the last chapter, it's not perfect but it is the best I can do :)**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

XXX

Chapter 9- NOT a Morning Person

"Wind Style: Concussive Force Technique!"

From between Naruto's hands a small bullet of air shot out towards the two Leaf-nin, almost invisible to the naked eye, before stopping in the air about five foot away from them. It seemed to be creating a high pitched buzzing sound and for a moment nothing happed, the small ball of compact air just hovering. Then the noise started to get louder and higher in pitch, the air inside it seeming to spin faster and faster as if building up to something. His eyes widening as he realised what was happening, Kakashi quickly grabbed Lee by the back of his cloak and jumped away, trying to put as much distance between them and the ball as he could.

The Titans watched as another of the seals on the blondes back flashed and not a second later the barely visible ball of air exploded outward, still keeping to it spherical shape, and pushing everything it touched outwards.

Realising that they were still in range of the technique, Kakashi and Lee braced for impact, right before they were thrown of their feet, despite the fact they were using chakra to hole them rooted to the ground, before smashing into one of the buildings that lined the street. The force of the jutsu had destroyed almost the entire street, the buildings looking like they had been hit by a bulldozer. In the centre of the destruction was a shallow indent in the ground with a circle of completely empty space around it for about a hundred feet in every direction. Stood at the very edge of the destruction was Naruto, staring at the two ninja embedded in the wall in front of him, his face completely blank of all emotion.

The six teens behind him could only look at the damage the blonde had caused in complete shock, that fact that it didn't even seem to tire him out scaring them more then anything. Were they really _this_ weak compared to Naruto? It was like he was on a whole other level to them. The sound of rock crumbing drew all their attention back to the two masked men as they pulled themselves out of the wall, falling to the ground on their hands and knees because they were too weak to stand, panting heavily.

For Kakashi and Lee their thoughts were surprisingly similar to the six Titans. How had Naruto, the dead last in the academy, the loud mouthed idiot that always made them laugh, become so strong? They had been cut off from the Elemental Nations ever since arriving in this world, having to rely on the jutsu and fighting styles the silver haired jonin had copied over his years as a Leaf-nin to continue their training, but that was more then the blonde had. Yet Naruto had completely outclassed them at almost every turn. Looking up as the sound of footsteps echoed around the silent street, they watched as the whiskered teen slowly walked towards them before stopping a few meters away.

"I gave you two warnings to leave me alone; this was your last strike. It's time I send a message to the rest of your team."

Instead of the seals on his back flashing like the last time he used a jutsu, this time the blonde used his hands to make the seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball technique!"

The large blazing ball of heat charged at the two injured Leaf-nin, who were unable to move out to the way, the Titans starring in horror at the spot they had been before they were blocked from view by the smoke that covered the erupted on contact. But when the smoke cleared nothing was there, the two masked men seeming to have disappeared into thin air. Then they saw where Naruto was looking and followed his gaze to the top of a building that had survived his last attack to see two more masked figures holding the two that had moments ago been about to be cooked.

For a moment nothing happened, Naruto and the two uninjured figures just starring at each other in complete silence before without warning the two on the roof disappeared in a swirl of wind and leafs.

After a few second had passed and he was sure they had gone, Naruto let out a deep sigh, his expressionless facade disappearing in an instant to be replaced by his usual calm one, as he turned to look at the six teens that were all starring at him with mixed expressions of amazement and fear. The only exception to this was Raven, who had a thoughtful look on hers.

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto closed his eyes and smiled at them all.

"Well, that was fun."

XXX

The moment they got back to the warehouse both Kakashi and Lee were rushed to the makeshift medical wing they had built, at Sakura's insistence, and were lay down on two of the four beds. Seconds later the pink haired medic-nin came rushing in, Hinata and Ino right behind her, and started to run diagnostic jutsu in order to determine the damage as the two figures that had saved them removed there masks to reveal Sasuke and Shikamaru.

Lee had a broken nose, four broken ribs, two cracked ribs, a punctured lung, a minor concussion and several bruises on his arms and legs. Kakashi was in an even worse state, five broken ribs, four cracked, a punctured lung, internal bleeding and a burn on his right arm from the fireball that had been fired at them before they were saved at the last minute.

While the three girls rushed around the room getting what they needed to help the two injured Leaf-nin, Sasuke watched them with an unreadable expression on his face as the lazy Nara crouched down in a corner of the room and put his hands into a familiar seal, his eyes closed as he tuned out everything that was going on.

The plan had been simple, have Kakashi engage Naruto so that they could get an estimate of his skills and use a shadow clone with an explosive bomb attached to it as a decoy as a backup plan, they would have used the 'Great Clone Explosion Technique', but apparently that was one of the few Jutsu Kakashi didn't know. The exploding tag was supposed to have enough power to disorientate the blonde, giving himself and Sasuke enough time to swoop in and grab the teen while Kakashi and Lee made a quick get away. But the seal had been stronger then they were expecting, the only jonin of there team having just enough knowledge in the sealing arts to create a basic exploding tag. He could only assume that a mistake in the seal matrix was the cause of the larger then planned explosion.

The biggest problem was that now Naruto thought they were trying to _kill_ him in stead of capture, a perfectly reasonable assumption given the circumstances, but the fact that he had went for the kill shot meant that any restraints he had been using before were gone.

Then there was the fact that Naruto had apparently found a way to use jutsu without handseals with the use of Fuuinjutsu which, while impressive, was also very dangerous. Though he didn't miss the fact the blonde had used handseals for the 'Great Fireball'. They knew from what Sasuke and Hinata had told them that he could use wind manipulation without handseals to at least some extent, but this was beyond anything they were prepared for. The fact that his already impressive healing ability had increased so much was just a bonus

That just left the question of how he had learned so much about seals. He knew for a fact that the blonde would never have been able to learn about such a complicated art in Konoha, as much as he and the others hated the way he was treated it didn't make a difference right now, which meant he had learned it in the last three years since being in this world. But how was that possible, had he been going between worlds to steal scrolls, not likely, if Kakashi couldn't use summons then neither could Naruto. Had he stolen them before leaving the village, again not likely because they would have been told about it before being dispatched to bring him back. That left option three; Naruto already had the scrolls before he left.

It was the most logical answer, though where and why he had them to begin with was something to think about at a later date, and with his clones passing on everything they learn back to him Naruto could read and learn almost anything. What would take most ninja years would only take him hours if he made enough shadow clones, and with his higher then average chakra reserves he could make as many as he wanted.

The only other thing Shikamaru had noticed was that, with the exception of when he was using KI, Naruto seemed to be in complete control over himself. He had seen the blonde right eye change to red, just like Sasuke had said it did, right as the smoke had cleared before turning back to normal. That meant he had better control over his other personalities then they thought he did.

When he put all of the information together it all added up to one thing, they had underestimated Naruto, severely so. For all they knew the blonde teen could be at Kage level by now, though that was a bit of a stretch, and they had no real way to determine his true level because of his clones, and the fact was that until they did they had almost no chance of beating him without lethal force.

XXX

Sitting on the couch in his fake living room Naruto couldn't help the sweat that was poring down his forehead. He had gotten lucky after the end of the fight, Robin and most of the Titans having stayed behind to talk to the police and look for clues as to who the five, them not knowing that the man that exploded had been a clone, people were and where they went. That was where his luck had ended because while the others had stayed behind Raven had decided to come with him back to his apartment.

If there was one thing he had learned from the pervert of a sannin it was that, no matter how strong you were, no matter how many Jutsu you knew, when faced with a pissed of women it made no difference what so ever. The moment they had arrived he knew he was screwed, and not in the good way. She had just been stood there for the last five minutes, starring him down with a frown on his face as several things in the room would suddenly be covered in black energy before exploding.

Finally, after what felt like a life time to the blonde, she spoke, though he was honestly surprised at the words coming out of her mouth.

"I still have two questions, right?"

Nodding his slowly, not sure where she was going with this, Naruto sat up in his seat and waited for her to continue.

"I've been thinking about a lot of things since yesterday, what you can do, the symbol that was left on your door, the fact you have so many secrets. I don't care that you have powers, it doesn't make any difference to me and the fact is everyone has secrets, me included, and I can't be mad at you for having them. I know that you will tell me in time, when you are ready, or at least I hope you will. But that doesn't mean I can't be mad at you for not telling me that there are apparently people that want your head!"

Flinching slightly at her shout, a lamp exploding in the corner of the room, Naruto tried to put on a charming smile that came of more nervous then charming.

"In my defence until that bomb went off I thought they only wanted to capture me."

Ravens glare only seemed to intensify at his explanation, before she let out a sigh, her features easing back into her usual stoic expression, before crossing her arms under her chest.

"My second question is this, and before you say anything everything I ask for the next few minutes will count as one, so don't even think about trying to use a loophole. Who were those people and why did they try and kill you?"

Letting out a sigh of his own, Naruto stopped trying to smile and let a serious expression cross his face as he nodded for her to sit next to him. When she did, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees with his head on his hands, looking everywhere except her.

"They were from my village"

"Why did they attack you?"

"...Because I left"

Frowning at the short answer, the purple haired teen was about yell at him for the short answer, when she saw that his hands were shaking. Fidgeting slightly, Naruto continued.

"I told you before that Konoha is a very militaristic village, what I didn't tell you, is that the...soldiers...are trained from the age of five and start active duty at twelve. They are sent to the academy for the first seven years and trained in the basics, hand to hand combat, weapons, biology/anatomy, stealth, and anything else they will need to know in the future. Then when they graduate they are put in four man teams, three students and an experienced soldier of high rank who will train them until they advance themselves, to go on missions for the benefit of the village..."

"You mean like...mercenaries?"

"...yeah"

He waited several minutes after confirming her question, giving her time to process what he had told her so far, before moving on.

"One of the laws of the village is that any orphan that meets the requirements to be a soldier is sent to the academy because they are considered wards of the village, therefore it is expected of them to join to repay the 'kindness' of the village for taking them in."

At this point Naruto looked to Raven out of the corner of his eye and saw the realisation that came to her eyes, as if something she already knew had just been confirmed.

"You were forced to join the military like the other orphans."

The only answer she got was the blonde nodding his head, and then something else came to her mind.

"What about Gaara, you said he was from another village? But he was obviously trained too."

"There is more then one village, though five stand out from the rest, Konoha, Iwa, Suna, Kiri and Kumo, the five great hidden villages that were in a constant state of war. Gaara was from Suna, who are allies of Konoha."

Nodding her head in understanding, Raven decided to get back to her main question.

"You still haven't told me why they attacked you."

"It's because I left the village, or abandoned it you could say, and by law that makes me a criminal. So they sent a team to bring me back. At least that's what I thought; I guess they were told that if they couldn't bring me back then they needed to kill me so I couldn't be a risk to the village later on."

For the next few minutes neither of the two teen spoke, Naruto waiting for her reaction to what he had told her, and Raven thinking about everything he said. He had confirmed a lot of what she suspected, he was a soldier, well mercenary, and the people that had attacked him were from his village. She was worried about them trying to kill him but if she had anything to say about it, which she did, that wasn't going to happen. But even with all the things he had explained, there was one thing that still didn't make sense to her.

"So is Jinchuriki what you're village calls its military force? I mean what with them training kids and all, is that why they call themselves 'the power of human sacrifice'?"

Just like the last time she had asked him about the word, Naruto's entire body stiffened, his breath catching in his throat as he turned to look at her with wide eyes, his words barely above a whisper as he looked at her in...fear?

"How do know what it means?"

"Cyborg downloaded Japanese into his brain and translated it, so am I right or not?"

Looking away from her, his eyes on the ground, the blonde teen slowly shook his head in the negative.

"No, that's not it"

After a few minutes passed and he still didn't continue, Raven let out a sigh knowing that he still wasn't ready to tell her the full story yet. Leaning into her blonde boyfriend's side, the two sat in comfortable silence, the tension that had been between them moments ago gone as they just enjoyed the simple human contact.

Reaching into her pocket, Raven pulled out her communicator and handed it to Naruto, who raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm still not joining the Titans"

"Maybe not yet, but until I can convince you I just want you to have it encase of an emergency."

Hesitating for a moment, Naruto took the communicator and slipped it into his pocket, making a note to have Gizmo disable the tracker before he took it downstairs with him.

Then something else he had said before came to her mind and she looked around the small apartment with a confused look on his face before looking at the blonde.

"You said that Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo are staying with you and Gaara, right?"

Without thinking Naruto nodded his head.

"So where are they, and how can so many people live in such a small apartment for that matter?"

Sweating, Naruto quickly went through several different excuses that he could use that would satisfy her, before quickly looking at the clock on the wall and jumping to his feet.

"Wow, is that the time, I got to go and do the thing at the place, see you later Raven-chan!"

Before she could ask what he was talking about, Naruto disappeared in a bright flash of light, leaving a frowning Raven on his couch.

"NARUTO!"

XXX

_Braking news_

"_This is Summer Day and I am yet again standing outside the book store of Naruto Uzumaki, confirmed boyfriend of the dark Teen Titan herself, Raven. It seems that Mr Uzumaki has been busy since the last time we saw him, not only has he convinced three of Jump Cities three most well know villains into fixing the damage they have caused to his store, it is also confirmed that just yesterday he was seen fighting three unknown villains. At this point we do not know the full details on who these people were or what they were doing, but from what we have been able to gather from eye witness reports one of the villains actually used explosives that were apparently hidden on their body in an attempt to kill both him/herself along with Mr Uzumaki."_

"_After the incident yesterday we at channel 3 news did a little investigation into Mr Uzumaki and found out that he is more then he seems. It turned out he is actually the richest man in all of Jump City. Along with his book store Mr Uzumaki also owns 53% of the building firms in our city, along with several smaller businesses. On top of that he is the number one donor to the Orphans fund, the Children's hospital, the Veterans fund and several other charities."_

"_Their have also been several rumours going around that both Mr Uzumaki and the newly identified 'Sabaku no Gaara', who we met the last time we were here, are the newest members of the Teen Titans. Unfortunately neither the Titans nor the two in question have been available for comment, but today we will try and correct that."_

"_This is Summer Day, with channel 3 news."_

XXX

It was the day after his fight with Kakashi and Lee and Naruto had just finished watching the morning news, which was the reason he was now repeatedly banging his head against the wall, while Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth, the large red head eating a bag of popcorn, watched him from the couch. Gaara was yet to get up, so he wasn't there to see the blonde leaving a decent sized dent in the wall.

How did they find out about him being rich, he was so carful in covering his tracks damit! They even found out about his donating money to charity, which he had done without giving a name. It didn't make sense! As if all the attention he had been getting from dating Raven wasn't bad enough the fact that he was the richest man in Jump City was going to make it even worse because now he would be getting people coming to him to ask for money all the time!

After several minutes had passed, Naruto let out a sigh and just leaned his head against the wall before, his head never leaving its spot in the wall; he called to the three teens watching him in a flat voice.

"Can you go and let Gaara out, he should be awake by know."

Shrugging their shoulders, the three Hive students got up from their seats and made their way towards the large metal door that was Gaara's room, leaving Naruto to his thoughts. When they got there the three stopped for a minute when they saw that the light was still red. Turning to the other two, Mammoth scratched the top of his head with one of his large fingers with a thoughtful look on his face.

"What did Naruto say about the red light again?"

Shrugging Gizmo walked up to the door with a bored look on his face as he grabbed the handle.

"Who cares, let's just wake the bastered up already, what's the worst that could happen?"

XXX

Naruto was brought out of his self pity by the sound of three screams, followed by running feet and what sounded a lot like a roar. His eyes widening, the blonde looked up just in time to see Jinx and the others run into the room and slam the door shut behind then, which was almost broken off its hinges a moment later when something slammed into the other side of it. Turing to look at the whiskered ten with wide eyes, Jinx let out a panicked yell as the door was once again slammed by the unknown force.

Running to help them keep the door shut, Naruto grit his teeth when he felt the all too familiar demonic KI that Gaara gave off whenever he was possessed by the One Tail.

"You opened the door while the light was red, didn't you!"

"We didn't know that he was going to go insane!"

They stopped talking as they were forced to brace themselves as the door was hit again, this time with almost enough force to throw the four teens back, before Naruto turned to the three again with a serious expression on his face.

"I need to get him out of here before the transformation is complete. I should be able to get him to the surface but I won't get far because of the energy he is giving off messing with my own. When were gone get to the surface as quickly as you can!"

Nodding their heads, the three tens backed away from the door as the blonde motioned them too and stood on the other side of the room. Not a moment later the door flew open and a dark shadow slammed into the blonde. Before they could get a clear look what it was the two disappeared in a bright flash of light.

XXX

They reappeared in the middle of Jump City, Gaara's demonic chakra messing with the seals Naruto used for the 'Flying Thunder God', making them land there instead of the outskirts of the city like he had planned.

Quickly separating himself from the out of control Jinchuriki, Naruto looked at his friend with concerned eyes when he saw how far along the transformation already was. The sand had already covered the right side of his face along with his arm, which was now in the form of a giant claw with purple markings on it, and a long tail trailing behind him. His right eye and changed from its usual blue to yellow with a cross shaped pupil and black sclera, and his teeth on the right side had sharpened into demonic fangs.

One look at the boy was enough to send everyone within seeing distance running several letting out screams as they went. Unfortunately for them, the sound attracted the red heads attention and he turned to chase them before being slammed into a wall by Naruto.

"No you don't!"

Gritting his teeth as he was thrown back, Gaara's full attention now directed at him, Naruto watched as several pieces of glass fell from the windows above his friend that had been shattered by the force he had used to slam the teen into the wall. The moment the glass it the floor, Gaara used his demonic right arm to pick it up and absorb it, the glass turning into sand at his touch and spreading over more of his body. When all he glass was gone the only thing left of Gaara's face was his left eye and the scar on his forehead.

Letting out another blood curdling roar, the possessed teen made a fist with his right arm and sent it towards the blonde, making it stretch. Jumping out of the way just in time, Naruto's eyes widened when the arm kept going and slammed into the wall on the other side of the street, knocking more glass lose in the process which was again absorbed into the sand.

Puling out a seal tag from his pocket, Naruto was about to charge forward and slam it on his friends head when the Teen Titans arrived, Gaara to far transformed for them to recognise, and without thinking attacked.

Starfire and Terra drew his attention by sending starbolts and rocks at the strange creature, which turned to glare at them in hatred, before he was wrapped in a streetlight that Raven had bent around him, holding his arms at his side. This was followed by Beastboy turning into a rhino and charging at the sand monster, slamming him into a wall, before Cyborg used his arm cannon and sent a beam straight at the spot he hit, sending dust into the air and obscuring their view of the creature.

"Booyah! Direct hit, whatever that thing was, its toast now!"

The other Titans gathered around, thinking that the fight was over and discussing what they thought the creature could have been, none of them even realising that Naruto was there. What the six teens didn't notices was that Cyborg's canon had shattered all the glass on the side of the wall it had hit, causing it to fall to the ground right on top of Gaara.

Turing angry eyes on the teens, Naruto made his way over to the group, getting their attention, before practically growling at them.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?"

Grinning at the blonde, Beastboy gave him a thumb up as he boasted.

"We just totally kicked that things ass is what we did!"

Glaring at the green teen, the others finally noticing his irritated mood, Naruto grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground.

"You just made it worse! If you had stayed out of the way I could have put the bloody seal on him and he would have woken up, all you did was piss him off!"

Before any of the Titans could ask what he was talking about, the blonde teens heard something coming from the dust cloud. Eyes widening, Naruto was able to push Robin out of the way just in time as a large arm made out of sand slammed into the ground where he had just been stood. The dust clearing, they could all see what looked to be a giant raccoon made out of sand with purple markings and human feet starring at them with yellow eyes.

Before any of them could react, the raccoon leapt at Starfire and backhanded her into a building, doing the same to Terra with its tail, before trying to slam both its hands on to Naruto and Robin, who had fallen to the floor when the blonde pushed him out of the way. Rolling out of from under the fists just in time, the two teens stopped next to Raven and watched as the raccoon turned its attention to Cyborg and Beastboy.

Quickly getting up, Robin turned his attention to the blonde with a serious face.

"What the hell is that thing?"

Stuffing the seal back into his pocket, Naruto frowned as he saw Beastboy avoid being caught between the raccoon's giant hands by transforming into a humming bird, before turning his attention to the brightly dressed teen and his girlfriend.

"We don't have much time, the longer he fights the stronger he will get. If I had gotten the seal on him before you arrived it wouldn't be a problem but now he's too far gone. Any minute now he's going to finish transforming."

Floating to stand next to Robin, Raven frowned at the idea of the creature getting even stronger.

"What to you mean finish transforming?"

Before he could answer the threes attention was pulled back to the creature, who had caught Cyborg's right arm with his own and had covered it with sand. The reason they had all turned to look at the two was that moments after his arm was covered up to his elbow the mechanical teen let out a shocked yell and fell away from the creature, his right arm now ending just below the elbow where the raccoon like creature had crushed it.

Rushing forward Naruto kicked the possessed Gaara away before he cold get a hold of Cyborg again with a frown on his face. Crouching down next to the metal teen, the whiskered blonde being carful not to turn his back away form Gaara, and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"You ok?"

"...yeah, it only got robot parts."

Nodding, Naruto sent a quick look towards the raccoon before turning back to Cyborg with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry about this"

"About wh-!"

Before he could even finish the question Naruto grabbed onto Cyborg's shoulder and, spinning on the spot, threw the metal teen back towards the rest of the Titans that had regrouped. Not a moment later the raccoon slammed into him, making the blonde skid back despite his strength, before they stopped in a grappling position. Quickly braking apart before the sand had a chance to cover him, Naruto sent a double kick into its chest before back flipping to the Titans, once again sending the raccoon into a wall.

Looking around, Naruto tried to think of a way to wake his friend up, plan after plan running through his head as he tried to think, then it hit him. The last time he had woken Gaara was when he was at his strongest, but also when he was the most venerable. Turning to the six Titans, a small smirk on his face, Naruto stepped away from the group.

"You're going to want to cover your ears!"

"Shrieking Banshee Technique!"

Pulling in a deep breath, his chest visibly expanding to a degree that was obviously impossible for a normal person, Naruto held it for about three seconds before letting it out. The air was filled with the sound of a blood curdling, high pitched scream that echoed all over the city. The Teen Titans had just enough time to cover their ears before the sound could take full effect and burst their ear drums but unfortunately for Beastboy, whose ears were more developed then those of his friends, it still made them bleed from the noise. Luckily it also had an effect on Gaara, his demonically charged ears amplifying the sound tenfold in his head, insuring he was in too much pain to attack.

When the scream hit its apex it was joined by another sound, the sound of breaking glass. Every window within a miles radios of the blonde shattered into thousands of pieces, falling to the ground like rain, glittering as they fell when caught by the light of the sun. As suddenly as it had started the sound was gone, the whole city seeming to fall into complete and total silence with the exception of the ringing it left behind in peoples ear. Then without warning the shards of glass started to lift into the air and start to flow toward the raccoon like creature in streams, flowing into Gaara and turning into sand on contact.

Turning to look at the Titans, spearing a sorry look to the green teen on the ground holding his ears in pain, Naruto slowly stepped back from the possessed Gaara, the glass still being absorbed into him as he started to grow bigger and bigger.

"This is the part where we run away!"

They watched in confusion as the blonde ran passed them in a blur, grabbing Raven's hand as he passed and dragging her with him. Robin took the time to look back at the creature they were fighting, seeing his growing form with the millions of shards of glass flowing into him, before lifting the still immobilise Beastboy onto his shoulder and following Naruto with a shot to the other three members of his team to follow him.

They were about three streets away when they stopped, the sound of a humungus creature roaring filling the air, and turned to see a giant Raccoon with purple markings over its entire body standing as tall as several skyscrapers.

Turning back to the whiskered blonde, Robin handed Beastboy to the one armed Cyborg before running up and grabbing the front of his shirt.

"What the hell have you done?! Why did you make it BIGGER?!"

Frowning at the boy wonder, Naruto pushed him away with ease before pointing at the top of the now rampaging creatures head. Following the direction he was pointing, the Titans saw a small dot on the creature's forehead. Using his bionic eye to zoom in of the dot, what was left of Cyborg's skin went pale.

"Is that Gaara?"

The others turned to Naruto with shocked faces, hoping to see the blonde deny the question, but to their further shock he just nodded his head. Turning to her boyfriend with her usual stoic expression mixed with a small amount of confusion, Raven grabbed his arm to get his attention away from the giant raccoon.

"What the hell is going on?"

Letting out a sigh, Naruto quickly looked from the possessed Gaara that was in the middle of destroying a building, then back to the purple haired teen several times before running a hand through his hair.

"Gaara's powers are complicated, he can control sand but at the same time it acts automatically. While he's awake he an control it, but when he falls asleep his power takes over his body and goes on a rampage and turns him into a bloodthirsty raccoon made of sand that will destroy anything it sees. I created a special room that he could sleep in that would absorb his power while he slept so he didn't lose control, but unfortunately he got out."

"Then why the hell did you make him bigger? If you knew he could turn glass into sand then why shatter it with that freaky screaming thing and add fuel to the fire!"

Turning to the robotic teen, Naruto once again pointed to the sleeping teen on the giant's forehead before pulling a seal out of his pocket.

"Because you guys showed up and pushed him over the point that this would have worked! If I could have gotten this seal on him before he absorbed so much sand I could have stopped this from getting this bad. That left me with only one option, while in this form Gaara it at his strongest, but at the same time he is the most venerable. If I can get up there all I need to do is wake him up and that creature will disappear."

Frowning, Robin looked at the giant Raccoon before turning his attention back to the blonde before giving him a begrudging nod.

"So how are you going to get up there?"

Taking a moment to think, Naruto looked from Shikaku to the skyscraper next to him that had yet to be destroyed. Nodding his head, he turned back to the six teens.

"I need you to draw his attention while I get up there, whatever you do don't touch him! If you get caught in his sand you'll end up like Cyborg-sans arm."

Not giving them a chance to ask anymore questions, Naruto ran off towards the skyscraper before jumping onto the wall and, to the shock of the teens, continued to run straight up it. The five teens, Beastboy having just regained consciousness, turned wide eyes to the dark Titan, who just shrugged before lifting into the air and throwing a street light at the raccoon to get its attention.

Luckily, or unluckily considering the situation, it work. The giant raccoon turned it head in their direction, its golden eyes shining with insanity, and started to walk towards them. The rest of the Teen Titans sprung into action, minus Cyborg and Beastboy, the robotic teen because of his missing arm that would normally be used as a canon and the green teen because he wouldn't actually touch the giant raccoon without risking being caught in its sand.

While Raven and Terra, the blonde girl using a large rock to float in the air, used their powers to throw rocks, cars and anything else they could at the creature's midsection, Starfire threw her starbolts at the raccoons head and Robin aimed several exploding disks at its feet. It worked in getting the raccoons attention, though beyond that all it seemed to do was piss it off, no matter what the teens did the creature would just use its sand to heal any injuries .

It was then that Raven caught sight of Naruto, still running up the side of the skyscraper, and realised that he wouldn't be able to reach the unconscious Gaara on the sand monsters forehead with the distance between him and the skyscraper. She was about to fly over and help when without any warning the blonde kicked off from the top of the building, twisting in the air as he went, and cleared the distance between the skyscraper and the possessed red head in one big leap.

Pulling his arm back in preparation as he approached his target, Naruto braced himself, took a deep breath, and punched his best friend in the face. The effect was instantaneous; the red headed tees eyes shot open, the giant raccoon let out a roar of anger and seemed to melt away as it lost control of the sand that made up its body. Eyes locking, Naruto saw the confusion on his friends face turn into sadness before it was covered up by impassiveness. Then the next problem arrived, they were hundreds of feet in the air, and the sand monster that had been holding them up had just dissolved.

Luckily Raven and Terra were there to catch them, the purple haired teen grabbing her boyfriends hand while the blonde brought a large stone under Gaara to use as a platform. The four slowly made their way to the ground, the red headed demon container keeping his eyes on the ground as the other Titans approached.

The moment his feet touched the ground Naruto thanked Raven for catching him before running over to his friend and placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort. For a few minutes nothing was said, the Titans just looking at the two, waiting for something to happen.

"...Did I-?"

"No"

Nodding his head, Gaara turned to look at the six teens, his face completely blank, and gave them a small bow in respect.

"Thank you for helping to stop me, if not I might have destroyed the city without even realising it."

For a moment they all just stood their, staring at the scared teen unsure of what to say before Robin let out sigh and stepped forward, his eyes moving to Naruto before turning back to Gaara with a small smile on his face.

"It's ok, no one was hurt, somehow, and you couldn't help it."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the brightly dressed teen's behaviour, considering the way he had been acting lately the half expected him to try and arrest Gaara not that he would have let him of course. Seeing the look Robin let out a small sigh before nodding his head and turning away, walking back to his friends.

"Come on guys, we need to get back to the tower and have Beastboy checked out, plus Cyborg need to get another arm from his room."

Nodding in agreement, all of the Titans except for Raven headed back to the Tower. Walking over to her boyfriend and his friend, the dark Titan waited for a moment was Gaara made to walk away, stopping only to look back at the blonde.

"I'm going to make my way back on my own; I need same time to myself..."

Nodding, Naruto watched as the red head walked away until he turned a corner, and turned to face his girlfriend.

"Well that's one way to start the day, let it be said that Gaara is NOT a morning person."

In response to his joke Raven slapped him in the back of the head in the same way she did Beastboy on a daily basis, before letting out a sigh when he turned to her with wide, sad eyes and a quivering lip, looking away from the pure cuteness that was being aimed at her. She couldn't help the small smile that crossed her lips at his antics, turning back to the blonde teen, rolling her eyes at the smirk now on his face.

"You're almost as bad as Beastboy"

"Yet you're still my girlfriend."

Placing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a one armed hug, Naruto continued to smile as they walked down the street towards, the blonde leading them.

"Speaking of you being my girlfriend, how about a second date, right now?"

Looking the blonde up and down, taking in the fact that he was only in tracksuit pants and a sleeveless shirt, Raven raised an eyebrow.

"You're not exactly dressed for going out in public."

Smirking, Naruto leaned down so he could whisper in the purple haired girl's ear so that no one else could hear.

"Well if you like I could take them off, if you agree to help, of course."

He couldn't elp but laugh as a letter box exploded as they passed it, Ravens face practically glowing bright red from the intensity of the blush on her face.

XXX

**Hope you all like the chapter :)**

**R&R:)**


	10. Don't Purr!

**Just to clear something up from the last chapter, a few of you thought I meant that Naruto owned 53% of Jump City, that's not what I meant. He owns 53% of the Building firms in the City, meaning that they build and repair, but not actually own them. I figured with his clones as workers when he first arrived in Jump and the fact that villains are always destroying buildings, it would be a good way to build up a fortune. He uses normal workers now, but at the start he would have just used clones. But the bottom line is that in this world Naruto is stinking rich, explaining why he can buy books that cost thousands of dollars.**

**Just one little spoiler here, so if you don't want to don't read.**

**I know next to nothing about bikes or cars, so if anyone wants to see the one Naruto drives in this chapter look on my profile, I added a link to the closest thing I could find, but black and red.**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing **:(

XXX

Chapter 10- Don't Purr!

"What do you mean you're going away for a while?"

Letting out a sigh as he picked up a pair of socks and, sniffing then, grimaced before shrugging his shoulders and adding them to the storage scroll with the rest of his clothes, Naruto turned to his four roommates. It had bee a week since Gaara's rampage.

"There is a certain book that I need to acquirer and the owner is not keen to part with it, so I'm meeting them in person to try and...convince them."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Gaara move to stand next to his blonde friend and leaned close so as not to be heard by the others.

"Is this one of your...special, books that would require you to take drastic measures to _acquire_ it?"

"Class 2, possible Class 1"

Eyes widening slightly, Gaara nodded in understanding.

Shortly after he had moved in Naruto had explained about the book that were kept in the Vault, things of such power that they could be extremely dangerous in both the wrong _and_ the right hands. He had even come up with a rating system to gage the fret level of the books, ranging from 1 to 5. Class 5 was barely dangerous, with almost nothing worth mentioning but could still be a problem if not kept in check, books that weren't high up on the list, Class 4 wasn't much better. Class 3 was where it got interesting, these being the books that were dangerous, with spells that could cause a lot of problems if not contained. Class 2 were books that had been around for a long time and were able to influence people that read them, not control exactly, nor actually talking, but kind of like giving the reader the impressions that they should keep reading and use specific spells. Then last but not least was Class 1, books that could talk and control people that read them. The longer a person held them and the more they read the stronger the influence became.

If this had anything to do with a Class 2 or higher it could only mean trouble, which explained why he was going to collect it in person. If news of one of these books had reached Narutos ears, and that it was in someone's possession, it could only mean that said book had latched itself onto someone and was causing trouble.

Stepping back to stand with the other teens, who were still confused as to the importance of some old book, they watched in silence for a moment as the blonde teen continued to seal everything that he would need. Raising an eyebrow as the strange teen add a sledge hammer and a rubber chicken to his ever growing supplies, Jinx let out a sigh of her own.

"Can you at least tell us _where_ you're going?"

Pausing for a moment with a thoughtful look on his face, and wined-up toy mouse in his hand, Naruto shrugged his shoulders before turning back to his packing.

"Some city called Golem, Gatham, something like that anyway."

"GOTHAM!"

Turning to look at the three shocked ex-villains Naruto was forced to stop himself from knocking back Gizmo when the diminutive tee jumped at him, grabbing his collar and planting his feet on the blonde's chest to keep him at the same height.

"Are you fucking NUTS, Gotham is one of the most dangerous cities there is! Two-face, Bane, Riddler, Killer-Croc, Poison-Ivy, The Joker and Harley Quinn! Why the hell would you go there just to get a book?"

Slowly bringing his hand up and flicking the toddler sized genius, sending him flying back into Mammoth with a yell, in the forehead before turning back to his packing.

"It's complicated, now while I'm gone Gaara is in charge. Jinx, keep reading you're book and practicing, and remember to meditate at least an hour a day. Mammoth keep training and if you get hungry between meals eat one of the bars I made for you, there should be enough in stock to last you until I get back. Gizmo, if I find out you blow anything up while I am gone I will make you wear baby cloths while working in the shop for a week, and don't think I can't."

After getting three nods and a shudder, Naruto picked up his scroll and put it in his pocket. He had one more stop before he left.

XXX

Appearing outside the Titan Tower in a flash of light, Naruto quickly straightened his clothes before walking up to the door and ringing the bell. he should only be gone a week, providing all thing went well, but thought it best to let his girlfriend know he was going out of town for a while. Especially when said girlfriend could probably beat him to a pulp, as girls were able to do to any man when angered, when he got back for not telling her.

He was waiting for about two minutes when the screen next to the door came on and the image of Cyborg came into view, the sound of explosions and smashing rocks in the background.

"Hey Naruto, what's up man?"

"...What the hell are you doing?"

Pausing for a moment was a small shock wave blow a cloud of dust across the screen; the mechanical teen rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Ever since your little _spare_ with Robin he's been a little intense about training, though I agree more can't hurt he's going a little overboard. So you want me to get Raven or something.

"Yeah"

Turing away from the screen, Cyborg put a hand to his mouth before yelling at the top of his voice to be heard over the noise in the background.

"HEY RAVEN, YOU'RE BOYFRIEND IS AT THE DOOR!"

Not a second later a large piece of rock coated in a black aura smashed into the metal teen , sending him flying away from the screen before it was filled by the image of his girlfriend, her hood drawn up in an attempt to hide the blush on her face.

"I'll unlock the door and meet you in my room in a few minutes, ok?"

"Sure Raven-chan"

Quickly making his way through the Tower, Naruto soon found himself in Ravens room. It was the same as the first time he had seen it, dark walls, with the curtains drawn, odd objects all over the place, the only real difference was the picture at the side of her bed. Walking over and picking it up, a small smile crossed his lips as he thought back to when and where it was taken.

It was a picture of himself sat on a bench in the park, grey sleeveless shirt and tracksuit pants with his customary bucket hat in place, with birds at his feet as he throw them bits of bread with a large smile on his face as he looked to the person taking the picture. It had been taken the week before, on his date with Raven after Gaara's rampage, and despite what had happened before the date he had enjoyed it.

Putting the picture back on the table, he caught sight of something that had been behind it on the table and without thinking reached to pick it up, only to let out small gasp as he felt a small electric shock run up his arm and into his head from where his figures had touched it. Pulling away, unsure what had just happened as a small headache started to form in the back of his head, Naruto was brought out of his thoughts by the arrival of Raven, the sound of the door alerting him to her presence.

Before he could even say a word she walked passed him and sat on the bed, letting out a tired sigh, before turning her eyes on the whiskered blonde.

"Robin asked me to invite you to our training session, so whatever you need to talk about, feel free to take your time."

Chuckling, Naruto sat down on the bed next to the purple haired teen, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her onto a one armed hug.

"Is traffic-light-san's training that bad?"

Levelling a half hearted glare at her boyfriend, the dark Titan pocked him in the chest to emphasise her point.

"He's turned into even more of a slave driver then usual, you have no idea."

"At one point in my training my sensei threw me off the edge of a cliff, believe me when I say your training at the moment is nothing compared to the hell I was forced to go through."

Pausing for a moment to look at his face, checking if he was joking or not, and when she saw the serious face he wore got a shiver down her spin. Before shrugging it off for the time being,

"This is still _you're_ fault, because of the way you beat him Robin is training almost non stop, with the exception of missions of course. That means you should be down in the training area with the rest of us, or you could just join the team."

"We've been over this Raven-chan; I'm not interested in joining the Titans or being a hero."

The grey skinned teen let out a sigh, nothing wrong with trying after all, especially seeing as she was the only one that could ask him without making him angry Raven shrugged.

"Not yet, but I will wear you down eventually, but until then you still don't get off with the training thing, you're coming back down with me even if I have to drag you there with my magic."

Smiling good naturedly at the girl, Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"Actually I can't, I came to let you know I'd be out of town for a few days on business. It shouldn't take long, a week, two at the most."

Frowning slightly at the last minutes notice, Raven turned to look at her boyfriend.

"What business?"

"Just a book that caught my attention"

"The sought of book that you put on display or the sought that you lock up?"

"Locked with chains around it this time, sorry I can't really say more."

"You know for a guy that says he doesn't want to be a hero, you spend a lot of time finding and hiding these books."

Falling silent for a moment while he tried to think of a retort, Naruto just shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

XXX

When she returned to the training area it was to the sight of Terra sat crossed legged on a rock in a meditative state with her eyes closed and several smaller rocks floating around her in a circle, one of the exorcises she had read about in her book. Beastboy was shifting between large animals and small animals over and over again as fast as he could, while Robin and Cyborg spared with Starfire floating in the air to the side of them watching.

After a few minutes of trading punches with Cyborg, Robin caught sight of Raven out of the corner of his eye and called for a timeout. Walking over to the blue clocked girl, the boy wonder frowned when he saw Naruto hadn't come.

"Naruto turned down the invitation then?"

That was one of the things that had change after their little fight; Robin had been less of a pain when it came to Naruto. He didn't push her for details on whenever she got back from hanging out with him anymore, which was a relief.

"Not exactly, he came to let me know he'd be out of town for a few days, but said he'd stop by when he got back."

Nodding, the masked teen turned back to continue his fight.

Raven moved to stand to the side and watch, placing a hand to her head as a headache started to form.

XXX

It took Naruto about five hours to drive to Gotham, the scroll with his stuff in it strapped tightly to his belt, and the only sound being the roar coming from the engine of his bike. He had tried driving a car, several in fact, but they all made him a little claustrophobic. He was used to moving at great speeds under his own power, the wind rushing passed him as he went and the world left bare. That's how he ended up with a motorbike.

It wasn't exactly the same, but it was the closed he could find and he like it. The bike itself was black with red highlights, custom made; being rich had its advantages. He wore a thick leather jacket with the same colour scheme as the bike over his usual clothes to help protect him from the wind, not that it actually bothered him but he didn't want to attract unneeded attention and normal people needed to cover up from the cold wind, with similar pants and fingerless gloves. The thing that stood out the most about him though was the helmet.

Again custom made, it was designed in the shape and colour of a blood red fox's head, with the screen set inside its open mouth and with red slighted eyes glaring at anyone that looked at it. The helmet was a bit conspicuous compared to the rest of it, but it also had the effect of unnerving people so that they left him alone.

Despite the fact that it was the afternoon the part of the city that he was currently driving through was dark, the dilapidated warehouses casting shadows on the street below, giving it an ominous atmosphere. It was an older part of Gotham, one that had been left behind as it was expanding and was now full of junkies and gangs that took advantage of the unused buildings.

The sight of it made Naruto shake his head in disappointment, it was places like this that made it so easy for villains to hide in Gotham, not to mention the waste of space that could have been used for something else instead of just being left to rot because it was cheaper to just dig up new land outside the ever growing city instead of knocking down the unused warehouses.

Before long he moved out of the older part of Gotham and into the newer, cleaner part. It was like stepping out of one world and into another. The buildings and towers were all new and shinny, the streets were packed with people of all ages and ethnicities, the road was full of cars, it was the complete opposite of were he had just been.

Naruto didn't miss the looks he was getting form the people that saw him either. Mostly they would look at him for a moment before quickly walking away, some frowned, and a few even looked jealous. He just ignored them all, not bothering to give them the time of day and just continued on his way.

Eventually he came to his destination, the Gotham Luxury Hotel. Like most of the buildings in Gotham it was a large skyscraper, stretching high into the sky to such a degree that it was all but impossible to see the top when stood in front of it, with white marble steps leading to the front door.

Without saying a word the blonde pulled up in front of the hotel, not missing the raised eyebrow the valet gave him, and after paying the man to take his bike made his way toward the lobby. The front lobby was big, a lot bigger then it would ever actually need to be that was for sure, with marble floors and crystal chandeliers that looked pointlessly expensive in Narutos opinion. The front desk was set at the back of the room, right next to several elevators that had a guard stood next to each.

He had barely stepped through the door when one of said guards walked towards him, a thin man with brown hair and dressed in a pure white uniform next to him, and when the two men had got closer to him Naruto was able to see a badge proclaiming him as the manager on his chest.

"Whoever you are you need to leave, I will not have someone like you dirtying this hotel, and you are upsetting the guests."

Raising an eyebrow at the man's words, taking a moment to look around and notice that everyone in the Lobby had stopped what they were doing to stare at him, Naruto frowned.

"Someone like me?"

"Yes, someone like you, we don't need thugs in this hotel."

Smirking, Naruto moved his hand towards his belt, not missing the way everyone in the room stiffened at the action, or the way the large guard next to the manager moved his own hand to the clearly visible gun on his own belt, the blonde teen pulled out his wallet. He started flipping through the pockets, thinking aloud to himself as he did.

"A thug you say, well I see what you mean, can't have a thug dirtying you're hotel..."

Finally finding what he was looking for, Naruto pulled out his ID and handed it to the manager, whose face suddenly went very pale as his eyes flicked from the ID to the whiskered teen in front of him several time, his hands shaking. His smirk growing, Naruto put one hand in his pocket in a lazy way, showing that he was completely at ease.

"If this is the way you treat you're guest's maybe I should go somewhere else, after all I wouldn't want to 'dirty' you're hotel with my presence..."

If it was possible the mans face went even more pale, confusing the people that had stopped to watch what was happening before he handed to ID back and gave a low bow to the blonde.

"I am very sorry Mr Uzumaki; I did not know it was you, please forgive me!"

Sighing, Naruto walked passed the man, making his way towards the front desk with a bored expression on his face.

"Whatever"

Inside, he was laughing.

Before he had left Jump city Naruto had called the hotel to book a room, hiding the fact that he was rich was pointless now seeing as the media had found out, and book the penthouse suet. The man's face, along with everyone else's reactions, had been priceless. So was the one that the receptionist gave when he told her who he was, apparently his name had been giving to the staff because he had booked the most expensive room in the hotel.

XXX

Naruto spent the rest of the daylight hours in his room, which considering the size, wasn't that hard. It was bigger then most apartments, with lush red carpets, a king sized bed, a mini bar and several other things that he didn't even bother looking at. But the thing that he liked the most about this room was the fact it had a large balcony that looked out over a large part of Gotham, the side that didn't have all the old and abandoned warehouses. Because he was in the penthouse he was on the top floor, which meant he could see over several of the other skyscrapers.

This was where he was stood now, a cigarette in his had and a serious expression on his face, as he contemplated how he was going to find the book. In most cases it wasn't actually that hard to find a class 3 or above, he would just have to follow the destruction, but this time it was going to be a lot harder. This time he was in Gotham city, one of if not _the_ most dangerous place in this world and filled with some of the worst criminal that had ever been born.

Before coming here he had spent hours researching every known villain that call this place home, learning about their habits and behaviour, just in case he ran into any of them while here, he had even done his homework on Batman and Batgirl. Most of them he wasn't too worried about, he was all but immune to all poisons because of his healing factor, so the Jokers gas wasn't a problem, he was almost positive he was stronger then Bane and if not definitely faster. Batman, if he was anything like Robin, would be a pain in the ass to deal with, along with Batgirl but for the most part he wasn't worried about either of them.

The only one in Gotham that he was worried about was Poison-Ivy.

With his more...animal like instincts he got from having the fox sealed inside him, Naruto was more at risk from the woman's pheromones then 'normal' people, the response his body would have if exposed to such a thing being unpredictable. Add in the fact that because of his training with the toads making him more in tune with nature, he didn't want to even think about the possible chaos that could ensue. But the chances of him running into the self proclaimed 'Mother Nature', was small, Gotham was a big city after all, so he didn't spend too much time worrying about it.

Letting out a sigh the whiskered teen finished his  
cigarette, take one more look out over the city, before walking back inside his room and grabbing the scroll he had left on his bed when entering the room.

XXX

Naruto slowly made his way down the street, his hood pulled up to cover the top half of his face from view, and humming absentmindedly to himself as he went. He was back in one of the older parts of Gotham, meaning it was full of muggers and gangs, and was trying to make himself took like the perfect target for one of the men he could feel hiding in the side alleys waiting for someone to mug.

He didn't have to wait long.

As he passed between two broken streetlights, making it was darker then the rest of the street, the whiskered teen was pulled into an alley by two large men, one with a hat and the other with a large scar over his left eye, and was slammed hard against a wall, causing his hood to fall off in the process. Without missing a beat, the thug with a scar pulled out a switchblade and pressed it into his throat.

"Make a sound and I'll bleed you like a pig, give us your wallet and anything else you got on you."

The confident sneers on both men's faces was almost enough to make Naruto laugh, they had no idea of who they were threatening. What was worse was the fact that even if he did scream the knife wasn't even in the right place to do any major damage, this guy didn't even know what he was doing with the little scrap of metal the people of this world called a knife.

He was about to brake the scard thugs arm, forcing him to drop the knife in the process when suddenly the one with the hat jerked backwards and hit the opposite wall. Deciding to think about it later the blonde ex-nin used the distraction and grabbed his attackers arm, put just enough pressure on it to hurt but not break, and in a move too quick for the human eye to follow, twisted it into the thugs back and slammed him face first into the wall, the knife now in his hand and pressed against the mans jugular.

"What was it you said? Make a sound and I'll bleed you like a pig?"

He heard a small whimper escape the mans throat, the panic making his pulse increase making the vain he had the knife pressed to jump, drawing a small amount of blood when it grazed the skin. But before he could say anything else Naruto was interrupted by a stern, female voice behind him.

"That's enough, let him go."

Tearing his eyes way from the back of the mans head, being sure not to release the pressure he had on his arm or move the knife from his throat, Naruto looked at the person stood next to the other thug that was on the ground, his hands tied behind his back.

She looked to be in her late teens and was dressed in a grey bodysuit that clung to her form like a second skin, revealing a very well developed body, with black gloves and boots. She had a yellow belt with too many pockets to count and a yellow bat symbol on her chest. Despite the black bat shaped mask she wore over the top half of her face Naruto could still see the long red hair flowing down her to the middle of her back and the pair of stony blue eyes that were fixed on him. he also make a mental note of her scent, lavender, honey and for some strange reason a damp smell that he usually smelt on animals that lived in caves.

If it wasn't for the fact that Raven could beat the crap out of him, Naruto would have wolf whistled.

Smirking, the blonde turned back to the man he was pinning against the wall, before chuckling.

"As much as I would love to, I'm afraid that I still have a few questions I need to ask my new friend here, so I can't. But I'll tell you what; I'll give you what's left of him when I'm done."

Even though he wasn't looking, Naruto could practically feel the frown that crossed Batgirls face at his words. Before she could interrupt him again he turned his attention back to the thug that had tried to mug him, putting a little more pressure onto the arm he was holding behind the mans back, making him let out a small scream of pain.

"I'm looking for a man with a large, leather bond book, with an erratic personality. Tell me where I can find him or I'll do something you will regret."

The man's panic seemed to intensify at the threat, causing him to start shaking and if Naruto's nose was correct, piss himself. For the sake of the Sage of Six Paths he wasn't even using KI, just how pathetic could you get!

"I don't know anything!"

"I don't believe you..."

"I don't know anything!"

Sighing, Naruto pressed the knife a little harder into the thug's throat.

"Tell me what you know"

"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

Before he could go any further, a black gloved hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled the hand with the knife away from the back of the know crying mans neck. He didn't resist it, though he could if he wanted to, and after the knife was knocked out of his hands Naruto turned his eyes back to the frowning face of Batgirl.

"Can I help you?"

Her response was little more then a growl.

"I said that's enough! I don't know who you are but I'm taking you to the police for questioning."

Pulling himself out of her grip, getting surprised look from the masked girl at his strength, Naruto stepped away from the thug and let him slump to the ground having fainted. Brushing imaginary dust off his shoulders and straightening his shirt, the ex-nin couldn't help the sigh that escaped his lips when he saw that Batgirl had moved into a fighting stance.

"You're almost as annoying as Traffic-light-san, though I guess it's understandable what with you having the same teacher. I have to wonder if the bat finds people like you of turns you into what you are."

Getting a confused look on her face at the strange teen's words, Batgirl was about to ask what he meant before the blonde just shrugged, gave her a little wave, before disappearing in a flash of yellow light that left her momentarily blind.

XXX

It took four more mugging that night before Naruto was able to get any kind of lead on the owner of the book, then again the fact that he didn't have either a name or description of the owner made things a lot more complicated and had lad him into several drug dens. Apparently there were quite a few people in Gotham with erratic personalities, who knew?

But finally, after using enough KI to almost give a gang of teens that had been trying to show off to each other by attacking him heart attacks, he was directed to one of the many empty warehouses that belonged to Gotham. Apparently some crazy guy with powers had been collecting followers over the last few weeks, for what they didn't know, and had set up a sort of church inside.

This didn't surprise Naruto, several time in the past when he had collected class 2 and 1 books he would have to deal with some kind of cult. When a book latched itself onto a person they tended to attracted people that weren't very stable, the powers the books grated its user making them almost seem like a god to their followers. Needless to say it was a giant pain in the ass to deal with.

After using a few clones, transformed to look like random homeless people so as not to be noticed, to check the area the blonde teen decided to return to his hotel room for the rest of the night. He would spend a few days watching, memorising the people that he saw going in and out of the 'church' and their routine, before finally making his move.

The other reason he was taking his time was that he needed to keep up appearances while in the city. Which was why, after spending time going around Gotham to se the sights like a good little tourist, he was going to a ball later in the day too meet with the rich and important of Gotham. It was supposed to be a fundraiser to help 'The Homeless of Gotham'. The fact that he had now been revealed as being rich meaning that an invitation had been left on his pillow of the hotel room when he had first arrived.

The fact was that although he was know for collecting rear books, Naruto didn't want people to know about certain books that he collected, which meant he needed a cover story as to why he was in Gotham. The ball had been an unexpected advantage in this sense. He had been planning to arrange a meeting with the Mayor in order to buy several plots of land, namely in the old part of the city that had been left to rot, for several reasons. Now he would have the chance to talk to the man himself at the fundraiser.

So after returning to his room, showering and getting a goodnight's sleep, Naruto did exactly what he had planned. He spent several hours wandering around the city, visiting all the touristy spots and even a few book stores, Naruto found himself wondering around the Gotham Zoo.

He never like zoos, he understood that they served a purpose in protecting animals from going extinct and other things along those lines, and that it was necessary to charge people to come and gawk at the animals to keep them going, but the look in the animals eyes was not something he enjoyed. Animals were meant to be free, not locked away in a cage, and he could never get use to the almost dead look that a lot of them developed after being in a zoo for several years.

It was while he reading a sign that proclaimed a group of foxes inside the cage it was attached to as being a rear breed that was all but extinct in the wild, that the sound of something banging against metal reached his ears. Turning towards the sound, Naruto was met with a strange sight.

At the hyena exhibit a few cages down was a woman dressed in a skin tight black and red leotard, with a matching jester hat. Her faces was painted white, with the exception of her black lipstick and the black painted around her eyes to look like a mask, and had bright blue eyes and the largest grin he had ever seen stretched across her lips. In her hands was an oversized sledgehammer, which the woman was using to bash the cage in front of her into pieces.

He recognised her immediately, as did the other people around them that had started to run away, as Harley-Quinn.

It didn't take the deranged woman long to break though the metal bars that surround the pen, creating a bridge with the twisted metal for the two hyenas to run out of the pen. The moment they were out the to deadly animals started rubbing themselves against Harley in affection, making a giggling like sound that was matched perfectly by the insane clown girl. It took her about two minutes before she realised hat all but one of the people that had been walking around the zoo had fled. Grinning, Harley skipped towards that blonde teen with the bucket hat on his head that seemed to be ignoring her in favour of reading the sign with information on foxes and coming up behind him, leaned over his shoulder as if reading the sign herself.

"What-cha yah reading?"

"I was just reading about how only 57 of this particular breed of fox are left in the wild and the rest are bread in captivity."

Frowning for a moment when he didn't even turn to look at her, Harley quickly returned her usual grin to its rightful place before draping one of her arms over the teens shoulder and resting her head on the other.

"That sounds _boring_, why the hell would-yah wants to read something like that when the world is full of cartoons?"

"I like reading"

Pouting, the clown like girl decided to get to the point.

"Yah do know who I am, right?"

"Harley-Quinn, what's you're point"

Giggling into her hand, Harley leaned in closer so that she was only an inch away from the teen's ear, before talking in a sexy voice that had made more then a few men fly back with a nose bleed, right into his ear.

"Aren't yah scared of little old me?"

Finally turning to look her in the face, his expression one of complete and total neutrality, Naruto raised an eyebrow at the now wide eyes clown girl.

"Should I be?"

For a moment nothing happened, Harley seeming frozen in place as her wide blue eyes wondered his face, lingering on his checks a little longer then the rest. Then, without any warning, she let out a high pitched squeal, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her cheek against his own.

"CUTE!"

After a few minutes of her strangling Naruto, whose face had started to turn purple, before letting him go and started rubbing his checks instead. At this point there was only one thing going through the blondes head.

'_In the name of the Sage, don't purr!'_

Unfortunately for Naruto his body wasn't listening to his brain and a small pure escaped his lips, making the over excited clown girl squeal and pull him into another hug, smothering his face into her breasts.

"You're so cute; I think I'll keep you! From now on I'll call you foxy, cuz of your whiskers and the fact you were looking at the foxes!"

He couldn't help but the sweat drop that formed on the back of his head at Harley's words, what were the bloody chances of her picking _that_ name! Finally having enough, Naruto pulled himself out of her surprisingly strong grip, and after taking a few deep breaths after almost being suffocated straightened his clothes.

"You're a very strange woman, you know that, right?"

Putting on a large, innocent smile Harley just nodded her head happily.

"If I try and run your just going to chance me, aren't you?"

Again she nodded.

Letting out a deep sigh, Naruto rubbed the back of his head in exasperation, taking a moment to think before nodding to himself.

"Then it's a good thing that the guy dressed as a bat behind you is about to tie you up."

Getting a confused look on her face, Harley had just enough time to turn her head before it was met with a black glove fist. She fell to the ground, unconscious, which left him an unobserved view of the man behind her. He was tall, almost a full head taller them him, with a grey body suit, yellow belt, and a mask covering the top half of his face from view with a long black cap, with a bat symbol on his chest. He could smell the same dampness that had clung to Batgirl on the man, along with the scent of sweat and metal.

They looked at each other for a moment, neither saying a word as they sized the other up, before Naruto put a small smile on his face and pointed to something behind the dark crime fighter.

"Thanks, but you forgot about the hyenas."

Eyes widening behind his mask, Batman was suddenly hit in the back by one of the giggling hyenas. They rolled around on the ground, the hyena trying to latch its jaws into the man's body as they went. Naruto just stood to one side, watching was the dark night wrested with a hyena, wondering what the hell was going on, before the sound of giggling brought his attention to the second hyena on his left.

They stared at each other for about a minute before Naruto let out a small amount of KI, making the hyena let out a small whine before running off towards the downed form of Harley, picking her up by the back of her collar, before disappearing out of the front gate, the other hyena not a second behind.

Turning back to Batman, who was just laying on the ground, Naruto casually walked towards him before nudging him with his foot.

"You're not dead, right?"

Groaning, Batman slowly got to his feet before looking around with a small frown on his face. Seeing this, Naruto let a small smile cross his face before pointing towards the gate.

"The hyenas ran off that way with the crazy clown girl."

Nodding, Batman took a moment to look at the strange blonde teen, before running off in the direction he was pointing.

XXX

An hour later Bruce let out a tired sigh as he sat down in front of the computer in the Batcave, his hood pulled down, and after taking a moment to think started typing. He had lost Harley and the hyenas after chasing them across half of Gotham, much to his annoyance, but for now there was nothing he could do about it, he would just have to wait until she or the Joker next showed their faces.

Speaking of face, for some reason he couldn't get the whiskered teens out of his head, he couldn't put his finger on it but Bruce was positive he had seen him before. But he just couldn't place it, like an itch in the back of his mind he just couldn't reach.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, the dark hero turned to look at the elevator door as the sound of them opening reached his ears, revealing Barbra Gordon, AKA batgirl, AKA the seventeen year old daughter of the commissioner. He hadn't seen her since yesterday, them both having taken different sections of the city to patrol and her having gone straight home after she was finished.

When he saw the small frown on her face, all traces of tiredness vanished from Bruce's face instantly.

"What happened?"

Walking over and leaning on the desk next to him, the red headed teen yet out a sigh before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a piece of paper. Without saying a word she handed him the paper to show him a ruff sketch of a boy, maybe in his teens, wearing a hoodie and jeans with a bucket hat on his head. Then he noticed something off about the picture.

"Why no face?"

"The alley was too dark for me to get a good look at the guy, but I thought you should know about him just encase."

Frowning slightly, the itch in the back of his head retuning before he brushed it off, Bruce turned back to the computer and started typing.

"What happened?"

"I was making my way through the West side of Gotham when I spotted to thugs dragging teenager into and alley and pressing a knife to his throat, didn't take much brain work to figure out he was being mugged, so I intervened and took out the thug without a knife was quick as possible. But before I could move onto the next the teenager grabbed the guys arm, snatched the knife out of his hand and had him pinned against the wall face first faster then I could follow. Then he held the knife to the guy's jugular vain and started interrogating him."

Stopping his typing for a moment, Bruce looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Let me guess, he wanted to know about a man with 'a large, leather bond book, with an erratic personality'?"

Raising an eyebrow, Barbra nodded, waiting for him to explain.

"I came across several thugs and gangs last night saying they had been beaten by some kid in a bucket hat, what else happened when you saw him."

"Well when it got to the point I thought he was actually going to cut the guy throat I grabbed his arm and knocked the knife out of his hand, I was about to take him to the police for questioning when he broke my grip on his arm. Oh and I think he knows Robin, he talked about a Traffic-Light-san and how I was just like him because he have the same teacher, then he just disappeared in a flash of light."

Frowning, Bruce thought over everything she had told him and understood why she as worried. They were always on the lookout for the next villain to show up, and this guy was sending up red flags. He spent several minutes thinking over his next move before slumping a little in his seat and letting out a sigh, something that didn't go unnoticed by the red headed teen stood next to him.

"...you're gong to call him, aren't you?"

Without answering Bruce pulled his mask on, Barbra quickly doing the same, before typing on the computer again. A minute later the large screen was filled with the image a surprise looking Robin, but the surprise was quickly replaced with indifference

"Why are you calling me?"

Ignoring the stab of sadness that hit them both at the boy cold reaction, Bruce held up the drawing of the teen with a bucket hat without a face.

"Do you have any idea who this might be?"

Even without a face Robin was able to recognise the image of Naruto without any problem. The two dark heroes watched in confusion as the boy wonder let out a tired sigh before pulling out a communicator from his pocket.

"Raven, you better come to the common room quick, it's about Naruto."

Putting the device away again, Robin tuned back to the screen.

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki; he lives here in Jump city"

Leaning forward slightly, Batgirl raised an eyebrow at his strange behaviour.

"Is he a part of your team?"

"...no"

"Is he a Villain?"

"...no"

Having enough of the short answers, Batman frowned.

"Then who is he?"

"My boyfriend."

Both Batman and Batgirl looked to the side of the screen to see a girl in a blue cloak with purple hair and a stoic expression on her face walking into the room. She moved to stand next to Robin, before looking at the two famous heroes.

"What did he do?"

"He's going around Gotham interrogating thugs looking for someone, we don't know why or who it is, but his methods are extreme."

They both watched as both Robin and Raven frowned before sharing a look, Robin asking her a question in a voice that they could barely hear.

"Is this about a...book?"

After seeing her nod in confirmation before she turned and walked away, Robin turned back to the screen.

"You should leave him alone, don't get in his way or interfere; he'll be back here in a few days."

Getting a confused look at the slight edge of fear she could hear in his voice, Batgirl crossed her arms over her chest.

"Just who is this guy and why are you scared of him?"

Quickly looking around to make sure Raven had gone Robin let out a sigh.

"Several reason; one if anything happenes to him Raven will kick my ass, two, even though I can't tell you why he's in Gotham I will say that its important he finds what he's looking for as soon as possible. The third reason his that even though I don't know much about him, what I do know is that you can't beat him in a fight, he's too powerful."

His frown deepening even more, Bruce sat back in his chair with his hands gripping the sides tightly.

"What do you mean we can't beat him?"

"I don't know everything he can do; he's even more secretive then you are, but what I have seen is enough to make me weary. Super speed, super strength, transportation, control over wind and fire, regeneration/healing, something I can't actually explain when he gets pissed off that is apparently called Killing Intent, combat skills, the ability to run up vertical surfaces, some kind of sound manipulation and possible increased intelligence. These are the one we know about, although Raven might know more I'm not sure."

Eyes widening slightly at the list of _known_ abilities the blonde apparently had, Barbra let out a whistle.

"If he's so powerful, and dating one of your team, why haven't you got him to join you yet."

Both saw the uncomfortable look on his face and before he could answer, Bruce spoke.

"He refused"

"...Pretty much, yeah. He doesn't want to be a hero."

"What else can you tell us about him?"

"Not much, not even Raven knows everything, though I'm positive sure she knows more then she's telling us, and the only one that dose know him wouldn't talk. He moved here about three years ago from Japan, I checked his papers and although they are good it's obvious they are fake, he is the richest man in Jump city, donates to a lot of charities, runs a book store and lives in a small flat behind it. For the most part he's laidback, but has serious moments and when he gets pissed off...I really don't know how to explain it but its bad. He recently paid bail for three of our regular villains and has them fixing his store, which they broke, and I don't know what he did but they are living with him and the guy I mentioned before and haven't committed a crime since."

They spent several minutes in silence, thinking over everything Robin had told them, before Batman nodded.

"Can you send us a picture of him?"

"I already did, I sent you a file a few weeks ago with the information I had on him at the time to ask you to look into him."

Nodding, Bruce was about to say something else before he was cut off.

"Robin-"

"I've got to go, talk to you another time."

Without another word the boy wonder cut the connection and the screen in front of them went black.

Letting out a sigh, feeling the hand Barbra lay on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, Bruce brought up the file Robin had sent him a few weeks ago, his eyes widening slightly when he saw the photo. It was the blonde teen he had seen at the zoo earlier in the day, the one that Harley had taken a shine to.

XXX

**Well here you go, this chapter is finished, hope you enjoyed it :)**

**R&R:)**


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